1 in 5 teens already in tablet households

About 37 percent of US teenagers are planning to get an iPhone in the next six months, according to a Piper Jaffray survey. The firm recently polled 4,500 teens, of which 17 percent said they already had an iPhone. The number of teens hoping to get an iPhone is not a reliable predictor of how many will however, since the device is too expensive for most teenagers to buy on their own.

Roughly 22 percent of the polled teens, or 1 in 5, say they already have a tablet of their own or at least a tablet in the household. 20 percent are hoping to get one in the next six months. The figures may bode well for the iPad, as the product accounted for 83 percent of tablets in 2010, and is believed to be holding onto to its dominance.

Of the 80 percent who said they had a dedicated MP3 player, 86 percent identified it as an iPod, up from 78 percent in the fall. The number of people with an MP3 player has declined by 10 percent however, reflecting the fact that 53 percent of teens said they were listening to music on their phones. Filesharing services remain a primary way of finding tracks, used by 65 percent of the survey group. Through iTunes, Apple is retaining about 95 percent of paid downloads.

by MacNN Staff