Tablets Top Holiday Shopping Lists for One Third of US Consumers

Struggling with what to get your beloved geek for the holidays? There are gazillion gift guides scattered across the web (including our own!), but know this: what he/she really wants is a tablet! That isn't true of everyone, mind you, but a new poll reveals that a third of U.S. consumers are hoping to score a slate this holiday season.

That's according to a new Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters, which found that lower priced tablets are likely to rein supreme. In fact, some 22 percent of those who said they plan on buying a tablet this holiday season also indicated that they're planning to cut back spending on other holiday purchases in order to afford a slate.


If you're thinking that doesn't bode well for the iPad mini, you're right. Even though tablet shoppers are finding ways to save money for these high-tech toys, only 8 percent of survey respondents said the iPad mini is their first choice. Incidentally, that happens to be the exact same percentage who said they plan to buy a Surface tablet from Microsoft (of which we recently reviewed).

"There has been a lot of controversy about the fact that the iPad mini is $329, that the price might not be right," said Jharonne Martis, director of consumer research for Thomson Reuters.

Apple needn't sulk at the news, however, as a quarter of respondents planning to pick up a tablet indicated that the full-size (and more expensive) iPad is their first choice, followed by the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 both attracting 15 percent of the votes.