Who Are All Those iPad Users?

Given the explosion in tablet sales - and particularly of the iconic iPad -there is great curiosity about who these people are. comScore, a company that measures such data, has conducted a survey and has provided the results.

Interestingly, the owners appear to be younger than might have been expected, given the expense of the item: almost 23% have not yet earned a college degree (though are in the process of doing so - or, for the even younger set - preparing to do so in the future). Having said that, the household income for the vast majority of those who own an iPad is over $100,000 per year, so evidently mom and dad are affluent, even if the kids are not yet hedge fund managers.

The results do raise an interesting cultural question about how opinions are influenced and standards are set in this society. Given the wealth and educational attainments of the iPad set, it suggests that reports about wealth driving opinion extend to the tech sector. This is yet another sign of Apple's marketing genius, even though one may have concerns about the values such trending conveys. The influence of wealthy political contributors might also be seen in this light as a signal about the aspirations of the society that follows. Whether one believes this is good or bad, it points the way to identifying cultural signals that influence public attitudes, if one wishes.

Michael Jones reports in iPad Blorge (and that spelling is correct) (hat tip Naked Capitalism):

"It’s hard to see an iPad commercial on television, or to look at the pictures of potential buyers waiting in line on release day, and not try to figure out who iPad users are. Now, a new survey tells us.

Americans, and all Americanized countries, seem to have a fascination with numbers. As the mother of all statistics consumers, it is interesting to see statistics about who is doing what with the iPad in America. comScore, an analytics company that specializes in measuring things, has been busily measuring the iPad and its owners.

For example, 41.4 percent of iPad owners have not yet received a college degree, though 22.8 percent of them are young enough that they have not yet had a chance to graduate, according to a Wall Street Journal story. By the same token, 56.1 percent of iPad owners are male, leaving the battle of the iPad sexes fairly even. And we are talking some significant number of users here, since some 7.8 million people in the U.S. own an iPad. We should probably also note that almost exactly half of those iPad owners make more than $100,000 per year, while only 11.9 percent make less than $25,000 per year.

comScore was unable to figure out exactly why Blackberry and Android users were less likely to purchase an iPad than other people, but they do not seem to have considered the Apple-hater syndrome that may well be responsible for this situation. Instead, comScore says we just need to wait and see if these people do eventually buy an iPad or some other brand of tablet.

Along the way to these conclusions, comScore also noted that Apple’s iOS4 is reaching almost 60% more American users than is Google’s Android. To be more precise, comScore says iOS is reaching 37.9 total Americans, 59 percent more than Google’s Android at 23.8 million, with all mobile devices considered, this despite the fact that Android devices, by manufacturer and model, outnumber Apple mobile products by hundreds to three. Since those numbers are probably headed for thousands to three, one supposes Android will eventually catch up.

INSERT THE REST OF THE QUOTED ARTICLE TO APPEAR AFTER "READ MORE..." JUMP