In the largest survey on tablet devices to be undertaken in Australia, GfK Australia has found that 188,000 tablets have been purchased in the last six months, with the majority of these being Apple iPads.
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Of the 12,000 Australians surveyed, 1.2 per cent reported that they had purchased a tablet in the last six months, equating to a national figure of around 188,000 units.
The data, collected up to September 2010, showed that users were opting for the iPad, partly because no other tablets were available for purchase in Australia. It also found that 25-35 year olds living in metropolitan areas were among the most likely to purchase a tablet device.
GfK Australia senior account director Phil Burnham said that the tablet market was booming in Australia and most users were using the devices to connect to the Internet.
"The survey finds that respondents who were looking to buy a tablet in the next 12 months wanted to use the device mainly for Web browsing, email and social networking," he said.
However, Burnham, said that "tablet owners have told us that they actually only use their devices for an average of three purposes, the second highest usage (47 per cent) was for playing games."
The survey also showed that four-in-five Australians were already aware of what tablets were and that one-in-eight Australians were likely to purchase one in the next 12 months.
New release tablets with Android-based operating systems like the Dell Streak, Samsung Galaxy Tab and Telstra's T-Touch Tab means that the fastest-selling electronic device of all time will face some stiff competition in the coming months.
