iPad success bad news for ebook readers

More than half of the three million people who have invested in an iPad view the Apple tablet as a "very expensive toy," while the device's success looks to be bad news for e-Readers and handheld games consoles alike.

That is the verdict of a new survey from Resolve Market Research in the US, which canvassed consumers across the country to get a sense of just what they were using the device for or would do once they bought one as well as getting a sense of what they thought the iPad's potential impact would be on rival technology platforms.

Last week Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said Apple had "limited the iPad functionality to primarily content consumption," and the figures from the Resolve survey seemed to support that viewpoint.

When asked which of seven device types they would now not be buying having invested in an iPad, e-Readers (49 per cent) and handheld consoles (38 per cent) came top of the list.

Whilst laptops or netbooks came in third with 32 per cent, smartphones appeared the least likely to be affected, with just 8 per cent saying their iPad would stand in the way of a future phone purchase.

The results support growing evidence the iPad's success is proving a real thorn in the side of e-Reader makers. Both the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader the most popular e-Readers on the market at present have seen price drops in recent months amid flagging sales.

In addition, the iPad's success has spurred other manufacturers into getting ready to join the tablet fray themselves, meaning the impact on the e-Reader market is likely to increase.

Another point raised in the survey was one in three likely iPad buyers said it would be their first ever Apple product a surprisingly high figure for a company that has traditionally traded strongly on brand loyalty across its various product lines.