iPad Owners Older And More Wealthy Than Other Tablet Owners – NPD

iPad owners tend to be older and have more money – 50 percent more likely to have household incomes of $100,000+ – but as tablets have become more mainstream and more widely distributed, those high-end demographics are shifting.

According to market research firm NPD Groups’ new study, “Tablet Adoption and Insights Report,” more than 40 percent of iPad owners have a household income of $100 thousand or more compared to 26 percent of non-iPad owners. More recent tablet owners make less money and are younger than the early adopters, with buyers at the end of 2011 being 50 percent more likely to have an income under $45 thousand, and 33 percent more likely to be under 34 years of age.

“As the demographic of the tablet owner continues to change the tablet market is beginning to take on a new role,” says Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, “We are seeing some of the tasks traditionally performed on devices, such as PCs, now being performed on the tablet. In fact, all five of the top activities shifted towards the tablet between early and late 2011.”

Yet, regardless of usage trends, the vast majority of consumers are not rejecting other devices. Only 10 percent of tablet owners have decided they don’t need a PC notebook that they were once considering. This same trend is also reflected among non-tablet owners, 26 percent of whom say they are likely to buy a notebook in the next year, while just 18 percent say they will purchase a tablet.

“Even as consumers increasingly use tablets for tasks that were once exclusively done on their PC, they continue to plan new PC purchases,” says Baker. “Usage is still evolving and most people, being inherently conservative in their device outlook, continue to hedge their bets on their device preference by planning to maintain an array of products to afford them maximum flexibility.”

The survey is based on a U.S. rep sample of more than 1,114 consumers completed the survey through NPD’s online panel in December 2011. A pre-identified sample of 3, 600 tablet owners were part of the survey.

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