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From The Guardian:

iPad mini features: what tablet users like – and what the analysts say

Data from Nielsen surveying existing tablet owners shows a skew away from price and towards features

Charles Arthur
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 October 2012 06.20 EDT
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The new iPad mini is projected on a screen during an Apple event in San Jose
Apple's new iPad Mini enters the crowded market of smaller tablet computers dominated by Amazon, Google, and Samsung. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

The launch of the iPad mini by Apple has gained huge interest – as much as anything for the fact that Phil Schiller compared it directly in onscreen presentations to the Google Nexus 7, pointing out the differences in some app experiences and screen area available for web browsing.

But what do the analysts say – and what do people say? First, some data from the survey company Nielsen; and then what the analysts have said.

Nielsen has some data about American tablet owners (and non-owners) which may be telling as we consider the coming "shelf wars" between the different tablets from Amazon, Apple, Google, Samsung and others.

According to Nielsen:
• More than 15% of US TV households own one or more tablets (Q1 2012).
• 60% of new US tablet owners said device size was important in their decision to buy within the last year (Q2 2012).
• 27% of US tablet buyers said they already own an eReader in their household (Q2 2012).
• Among US tablet buyers, 68% didn't consider purchasing any other device (Q2 2012).

And how do they use them?
• A majority of American tablet owners are likely to purchase media content on their tablets – and more likely to buy music, books, and movies on their tablets – compared with European consumers. In comparison, European tablet owners are more willing to pay for news content.

• American families see tablets as teacher, playmate, and babysitter: 70% of tablet-owning households with children under 12 say they let them use the device.

• While smartphone owners are more likely to use their devices for activities on-the-go and in-store, US tablet owners are more like to use it for online shopping than on smartphone.
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