electronics

1 In 3 Parents Sees IPad As Educational Device

Ipad2The iPad is catching on as an educational device among parents, but not nearly as many as one might think.

According to a survey of more than 2,000 consumers conducted by iYogi Insights, a third of all parents are willing to buy or have already bought an iPad for their children’s use. Furthermore, those parents are willing to let their kids spend an average of $14 a month on apps and programs, and spend at least two hours on the device every day.

“IPad touted as the hottest gadget of the times continues to be a favorite topic of debate and discussion especially on its usefulness to children in particular and whether it is an expensive toy or possibly a nifty device which can make learning fun and interactive,” says Vishal Dhar, president of marketing and co-founder of iYogi.

“With Apple marketing the use of iPads for kids and education, we decided to ask our large subscriber base what they thought. The encouraging results show a significant one-third of the parent population gives a thumbs up. With the rumored launch of iPad 3, 2012 will continue to be the year of the iPad.”

The flip side of 33% of parents willing to buy their kids an iPad is that two-thirds (67%) are not. Among those who were not willing to buy their kids an iPad, most (67%) said they’d rather buy a more traditional computing device (desktop, laptop or netbook), and 27% said they’d rather buy an e-reader. The biggest concern for these parents: that owning an iPad would keep them from enjoying the outdoors (a reason cited by 50% of consumers; 34% said they worried the devices would keep them from making more friends).

“People did question whether it’s a content creation device, and questioned whether you could do your homework on it,” Dhar tells Marketing Daily. “I think Apple has to cover more ground in educating parents [about the iPad’s educational uses].”

Next story loading loading..