Recent research has revealed that there is low consumer consideration and expectation levels for a non-Apple brand, with more than three quarters of ‘hot prospects’ (respondents that are keen to get a tablet) considering purchasing an iPad2 and a further three in five people expecting to get one.
However, the next most popular tablets are the out-of-date iPad 1 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab, both with just over one in ten people expecting to buy one. Other competitors HTC, BlackBerry and Acer fare even worse.
- 77% of ‘hot prospects’ (respondents that are keen to get a tablet) would consider purchasing an iPad2
- And 62% will be expecting to get one
- The next most popular tablets are the iPad 1 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab both with expectation levels at 11%
- Just 3% of ‘hot prospects’ expect to get a HTC
- 2% a BlackBerry
- And only 1% expect to get an Acer
Analysis: ‘Competitors need to seriously re-think pricing’
The market continues to grow with new tablets being released frequently. As demonstrated in previous research, YouGov believes that £250 is the price point where the tablet market will take off. Tablets will fail to be a mass market product until the price comes down to this price point.
We at YouGov believe that contenders in the tablet market need to seriously re-think their pricing strategy if they want to successfully compete with Apple’s iPad2. These competitors are pricing way above the market leader’s entry level tablet – the iPad2, which scored significantly higher in consumer awareness, consideration and expectation levels than its rivals. New research from YouGov’s latest TabletTrack confirms Apple’s superiority in the tablet market.
Brands such as HTC, though successful in the smartphone market, are expecting consumers to pay too much for their tablet, and they could quickly fail without a fundamental re-think of their pricing strategy. While we recognise that there are variations in spec, particularly with 3G connectivity, brands are still pricing their tablets too high in comparison to the price of the cheapest iPad 2 model available (the 16Gb Wi-Fi only version). We found 4 brands in particular whose entry level tablets cost more than the lowest spec iPad2*- Acer’s Iconia, HTC’s Flyer, Motorola’s Xoom and LG’s Optimus.
Apple dominance
Russell Feldman, Associate Director for Technology and Telecoms Consulting at YouGov commented on the findings. ‘Apple’s iPad leads the way in the tablet market, and not just in terms of sales success but also in consumer expectation, awareness and consideration levels. In order to successfully compete, brands need to seriously re-think price. Retailers also need to convince these manufacturers that outpricing the brand leader will not help their cause.’
The Apple-dominated tablet market will be a hard challenge for most brands to overcome. Unlike the smartphone market, the Android models seem unable to challenge Apple and certainly won’t be leading the market anytime soon.
YouGov’s TabletTrack study surveys tablet usage, attitudes and satisfaction, quarterly. The next wave of the tracker begins in August with a report due in September 2011
