John Stancavage: IPad becoming must-have for survival
BY JOHN STANCAVAGE World Business Editor
Sunday, October 28, 2012
10/28/12 at 6:24 AM
For the past few weeks in this space, we have been talking about our electronic gadgets - particularly smartphones and tablet computers - and how they have become an extra appendage for many people.
From what I've heard from readers, this trend is responsible for everything from boosting careers to causing threats of divorce.
Many of you wrote to say how shocked and/or disgusted you were about how the allure of instant messaging, webcrawling and thousands of apps keep some spouses, co-workers and friends so mesmerized they don't have time for dinner conversation or other human interaction.
With Apple last week announcing a new, smaller iPad, I get the feeling that we are only going to become even more inseparable from our tech.
Just how addicted are people now? Software firm Brainshark recently surveyed more than 1,300 iPad users about how they use their tablets. Here are some of the surprising results:
- Presented with a stranded-on-a-desert-island scenario, more than 80 percent of respondents said they'd rather have their iPad than a TV, radio or good book. Almost 35 percent saw their tablet as more desirable than a box of matches and 13 percent said they'd rather curl up under a palm tree with their iPad than their spouse.
- More than 90 percent have taken an iPad on vacation, and 73 percent have used one in the car. Among the more hard core technophiles, 21 percent have used an iPad in the tub and 17 percent took one along on a date.
- Thirty-four percent said they've used an iPad while naked.
- Asked what they would prefer as a work perk, more than 60 percent would take an iPad over a dedicated parking spot and 47 percent would rather have a tablet than a bigger office. Fourteen percent said they'd rather get a company-paid iPad than a 10 percent pay raise.
- Forty-seven percent predicted the iPad would become their primary computing device within the next two years, while 4 percent said it already was.
Before the new iPad Mini was announced, industry analysts were expecting 66 million iPads would be sold this year. That just increases the likelihood that these devices are going to become as ubiquitous as wristwatches.
As for me, if I'm ever in danger of being stranded on an island, I'll remember to "accidentally" step on my wife's iPad on the way to the emergency exit. Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd win that decision.
Original Print Headline: iPad is must-have for addict's survival
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