Data & Research

YouGov research says Android tablets need Kindle pricing to catch up with iPad

Only 14% of consumers look outside of Apple

YouGov research says Android tablets need Kindle pricing to catch up with iPad
Apple's dominance of the tablet market looks unlikely to change any time soon, unless Android device prices lower to Amazon Kindle levels, according to new research.

Carried out by YouGov Tablet Tracker UK, the research indicates that consumers were more inclined towards purchasing an iPad 1 than a more recent Android device.

72 percent of consumers showed a preference towards iPad 2 while 14 percent leant towards its predecessor.

Only a combined 14 percent showed interest in Samsung, HTC, BlackBerry and Acer tablets. Of those surveyed, approximatley 50 percent were already tablet owners, which YouGov considers representative of a "pre-existing propensity" towards Apple.

The price is right



"£250 ($390) is the price point where the tablet market will take off," states YouGov.

"Tablets will fail to be a mass market product until the price comes down to this price point. But, given Amazon's US launch price for its Kindle Fire at $199 versus the iPad2 at $499, we can only expect the same pricing differential in the UK and other global markets."

Small no. 2

YouGov consultant Russell Feldman belives that Amazon may be capable of overtaking Android as Apple's main rival.

"This is the mountain Android-based tablets need to climb," he said.

"But, by launching a rival ecosystem at an extremely competitive price, Amazon is likely to make a rapid approach to the summit, at the expense not necessarily of Apple , but of its rival Android stable mates."

HP's Touchpad certainly proved that consumers have an interest in low priced alternatives, by selling out when prices plummeted to $99 during its own demise.

Its sudden popularity led research firm Canalys to state that HP should have reconsidered ditching the device.

[source: mocoNews]

When Matt was 7 years old he didn't write to Santa like the other little boys and girls. He wrote to Mario. When the rotund plumber replied, Matt's dedication to a life of gaming was established. Like an otaku David Carradine, he wandered the planet until becoming a writer at Pocket Gamer.