Purchase Plan Survey Projects Continued iPad Dominance

Apple’s iPad will continue to overwhelmingly dominate the tablet market, according to a planned purchase survey from ChangeWave Research. The company surveyed 2,893 consumers and found that 7 percent intended to purchase a tablet in the next 90 days, and that 73 percent of them were planning to make it an iPad.

That doesn’t leave much for Apple’s competitors to fight over, and the closest thing to an also-ran in the survey was Amazon, with 8 percent of respondents who planned to buy a tablet planning on getting a Kindle Fire. Samsung was third, with 6 percent of respondents planning on getting one of that company’s devices.

“It’s a clear sign that Apple’s massive domination of the market is continuing going forward,” ChangeWave wrote in announcing the results of the survey.

ChangeWave Chart

Chart by The Mac Observer from ChangeWave Research Data

Amazon’s Kindle Fire used to be the great hope of someone, anyone, being able to upset the iPad apple cart (pun fully intended). When it was announced in October of 2011 for November release for $199, it was all the buzz, and Amazon ended up selling more than four million of the devices in the last few weeks of that year.

Demand plummeted after the holidays (though some have argued that a 50 percent reduction in demand does not represent falling off a cliff), and ChangeWave said that there are few signs of that situation changing any time soon.

The chart below tracks planned purchase survey results for the Kindle Fire in November of 2011, when the device was released, March of 2012, and May.

ChangeWave Chart

Chart by The Mac Observer from ChangeWave Research Data

“It’s been more than two months since the new iPad release and Amazon is still floundering at nowhere near the levels reached at the time of its initial launch,” ChangeWave wrote. “Kindle Fire planned buying is now down two-thirds since November 2011, and a clue to Amazon’s problem can be seen in the tablet satisfaction ratings of its owners.”

As shown in the chart below, a strong majority of Apple’s iPad customers are “Very Satisfied” with their tablets, while less than half of owners of other tablets reporting the same satisfaction rates. The firm said that this rating fell 15 points for Kindle Fire since February of 2012, strongly suggesting that once they get these devices in their hands, they don’t find them compelling.

ChangeWave Chart

Chart by The Mac Observer from ChangeWave Research Data

Satisfaction is a key rata point, according to ChangeWave, who wrote, “In previous surveys we’ve found that the percentage of tablet owners who say they are ‘Very Satisfied’ with a particular device is highly predictive of future demand.”