82% of U.S. tablet owners are holding the Apple iPad

A new survey of tablet owners reveals that the Apple iPad controls a rather huge share of the market. The survey, taken last month by the Nielsen company, shows that Apple's tablet controls a hefty 82% of the U.S. market. To put that in perspective, behind the iPad is the Android flavored Samsung Galaxy Tab with a 4% share. That is followed by the Dell Streak and then the Motorola XOOM with a 3% and 2% share respectively.

Apple iPad owners were fairly split on which version of the tablet they own. 43% of U.S. tablet owners have the 3G model while 39% purchased the Wi-Fi only version.

The results of the survey show that in the States, half of all tablet owners are the only one in the house that use the device while 43% share their tablet with others. And in a statistic that PC manufacturers might find interesting, 35% of those with a desktop have used the computer less since buying a tablet. 32% of those with a laptop report using it less since taking a tablet home. 31% said the reason for using the tablet more and the computer less had to do with how easy it is to carry a tablet with you wherever you go. 21% credited the easier interface on a tablet as the reason for staying away from the PC.

Nielsen's survey also revealed that it is more than just PC use being affected by tablets. 27% of those with an e-reader have used that device less often since purchasing a tablet while 25% of owners of a portable media player report the same thing.

Despite all of this good news, you might not convince News corp. founder Rupert Murdoch that the Apple iPad is dominating the tablet market. As we reported, Murdoch's company earlier this year debuted a daily newspaper for the iPad called The Daily which is available via a paid subscription. According to paidcontent.org, the online newspaper lost $10 million in its first quarter of operation. Most of the cost was to start up the service.

The Daily has been downloaded 800,000 times since its February debut and was offered as a free trial at first until a 99 cent per week charge kicked in. The service is available only on the Apple iPad for now, but News Corp. plans on expanding the service to other tablets.

source: AppleInsider