FollowComputers, move aside first. Your shiny siblings are the holidays’ more prized gifts.
One-third of the U.S. consumers thinks of buying computer tablets this holiday season according to a poll for Thomson Reuters. To afford them, 22 percent would cut other holiday buys and squeeze them within the budget.
But Apple’s iPad Mini does not top the tablet choice on holiday shopping lists in the U.S. Only 8 percent named it their first choice, the same percentage of the buyers said they would buy the Surface tablet by Microsoft.
Full-sized iPad by Apple takes the lead, at 25 percent; 15 percent goes to Kindle Fire of Amazon.com Inc. and Samsung Galaxy gains 15 percent.
iPad mini’s price of $329 creates quite a controversy, of being not right, goes Jharonne Martis, consumer research director for Thomson Reuters.
Laptops has 32 percent of the wish list, 18 percent belongs to desktop computers and 13 percent look for outbreaks.
11 million iPads were Apple’s sales on 2011 holiday quarter, and analysts expect about 8 million iPad mini tablets and 16 million iPads this year, Martis said.
Retailers set themselves for the season with Walmart doubling its orders for iPads and other computer tablets. It offers iPad 2 with a $74 gift card for a $399 on Thanksgiving night as one of its specials.
While shops want to believe that shoppers begin shopping in September, the poll shows that consumers wait around Thanksgiving to start buying. Most buying still takes place in stores, despite the fad in online shopping.
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