Most Teens Want An iPhone Or iPad For Christmas [Report]

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Photo by jdlasica - http://flic.kr/p/5QyHma
Photo by jdlasica - http://flic.kr/p/5QyHma

If you have a teen, you know getting gift suggestions can vary somewhere between monosyllabic and “hand over the credit card”. So you don’t stroke out aimlessly wandering the malls, we offer as a public service this tip: get thee to an Apple Store. According to a new survey, Apple products are among teens’ top three most wanted gifts with almost 10 percent of teenagers.


According to Piper Jaffray, Apple devices now rank with clothes and cash as the top gifts for teens. The iPhone was on the wish list of 3.4 percent of those questioned, while 2.5 percent of teens want an iPad. Macs were on the list of 1.1 percent of young people questioned.

By comparison, just 0.3 percent of teens want a Microsoft Xbox 360 game console, while another 0.4 percent yearn for Sony’s PlayStation 3. Indeed, the only items that surpass Apple are cash at 22 percent and clothes at 15 percent of those surveyed. Knowing teens, the cash will quickly be converted to clothes, which will be used to carry an iPhone — Apple’s top-rated item this year.

Over the survey’s four-year life, there is a marked increase in demand for Apple devices. While the iPhone started out in 2008 with just 1.1 percent of teens interested, that figure has climbed to 3.4 percent. Likewise, interest in buying a Mac grew from 0.4 percent in 2008 to 1.1 percent now. Overall demand for Apple devices (both mobile and desktop) has tripled over the four years, rising from 3 percent in 2008 to 9.1 percent now.

Although Apple appears to have the teen market in its back pocket, an unexplored holiday segment remains: fathers of teens. Here, I suggest Apple create a credit arm, which would just be the company’s latest masterstroke of tightly-integrated ecosystems. After buying all the iGadgets, parents could then take out an iLoan to pay for everything. Maybe next year.

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