The results from a survey conducted by marketing research firm comScore suggest Apple's iPad has already grabbed considerable consumer attention, but many potential customers have no plans to play games on the device.

The firm surveyed 2,176 internet users, polling both their awareness of the various e-readers and tablet PCs on the market, as well as their iPad usage intentions – i.e. what they would use the device for if they happened to own one.

Flying start

Those surveyed showed a "very high awareness of the iPad out of the gate", with an aided awareness of 65 percent – identical to the figure achieved by Amazon's Kindle, which has been on the market since late 2007.

15 percent also claimed to be seriously considering buying an iPad within the next 3 months – the highest figure achieved in that category by any of the devices polled.



"The tablet and e-reader market is developing at a breakneck pace right now, and Apple’s entry into the market is sure to accelerate mainstream consumer adoption," said Serge Matta, comScore executive vice president.

"These devices have the potential to be incredibly disruptive to the way consumers currently access digital content.

"While only time will tell exactly how consumer behaviour will change, our research suggests that not only will a variety of markets be impacted by the introduction of these devices but also that there are substantial opportunities for those in the digital content ecosystem."

It's no game

But it's comScore's results when it comes to potential iPad usage that may well raise the most eyebrows.

According to the survey, gaming is an especially low priority for many, 30 percent stating they would play arcade, card games, word games or number puzzles on iPad and 22 percent – the lowest figure taken – suggesting they would play action, strategy, role playing or 1st person shooter games.

Worst news, however, is the fact that many of those surveyed ruled out using iPad for both such activities, 44 percent – the highest figure taken – stating they would be unlikely to play action, strategy, role playing or 1st person shooter gamers on iPad, giving the category a differential figure of -22.



This puts gaming at the bottom of the pile according to comScore, although the firm's statistics seem out of step with the apps currently in development for iPad. Flurry yesterday concluded that games make up 44 percent of all apps currently going through iPad testing.

It's also worth nothing the iPad usage question appears to have been posed at all of those surveyed, rather than just those who stated their intention to purchase the device within the next 3 months.

[source: comScore]