Apple Woos PC Crowd with iPad - By: AndrewEisner

Apple just announced a record quarter and they didn't do that by just selling Apple products to loyal Mac fans. If Apple wants to add to its bottom line with a rumored Apple tablet, it will have to capture buyers from the PC side. Unfortunately, as a recent Retrevo Gadgetology study found, they’re going to have to be very aggressive on pricing if they want to win over PC owners.

Making the iPhone more than just another Mac product and attracting non-Mac buyers, Apple has been able to turn in record sales numbers. It needs to do the same thing with the iTablet.

The study also found Apple had better hurry up if they want to capture any of the netbook market because many consumers, both Mac and PC owners, have already bought a netbook and many more plan on buying one soon. Retrevo’s Gadgetology study, a survey of online users conducted by an independent panel, provided these interesting insights into the rumored Apple tablet.

How Much Will Consumers Pay?

With a rumored price of $800, Apple is going to have an easier time getting Mac owners to pay for a tablet than non-Mac owners. In the study, 68% of Mac owners said they would pay more than $600 for a tablet. PC owners don’t seem to have the same pain threshold as Mac owners with only 36% of PC owners saying they’d be willing to pay more than $600.

Apple Netbook, Now or Never

It’s possible that iTunes will add the iBook store and Apple will enter the e-Book market putting the tablet up against Amazon’s Kindle. It’s also possible they’ll position it more as a mobile media player and computer and treat it more as a netbook to compete with all the other netbook vendors currently grabbing laptop market share. If they go the netbook route they will have some catching up to do. The Gadgetology study indicated that 37% of Mac owners already own or plan to buy a netbook this year. Even worse for Apple is the fact that Apple has already lost the early adopters like the 59% of the iPhone owners who responded to the survey saying they already own or plan to buy a netbook this year.

Conclusion

Based on Retrevo’s Gadgetology study, if Apple wants to grab a larger market and get in on the netbook craze it will need to attract PC owners to generate significant sales. To convert PC owners to Apple owners, Apple must consider a (close to) $600 price point for the tablet and they must not delay bringing it to market, as laptops like the Lenovo G450 meet this price point. Like the iPhone, the iPad has a GPS, so Garmin had better watch their back.

About the Report

The Retrevo Gadgetology Report is an ongoing study of people and electronics from the consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo.com. The data for this report came from a study of online individuals conducted by an independent panel. The sample size was 753 distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States. Most responses have a confidence interval of 4% at a 95% confidence level.

About the Author

Andrew Eisner, Retrevo's director of community and content and resident hard core gadget enthusiast. Eisner comes to Retrevo from the world of computer journalism. To find more information, see Lenovo G450 and Garmin.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/AndrewEisner/94478

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