Nearly Half of Americans Surveyed See Tablets Wiping out Laptops

Tablet computers will eventually replace laptops, according to nearly half of Americans polled earlier this month.

Of course, "eventually" is a very long time, and the recent rollout of Amazon's Kindle Fire and anticipation over the Apple iPad 3 might have survey takers overreaching a bit.

[SHOWTIME: Best of CES 2012]

While the Poll Position phone survey of 1,155 registered voters found great enthusiasm for tablet computers, with 46% saying tablets would surpass laptops eventually, 35% said tablets will not replace laptops and 19% had no opinion.

Among younger Americans (18-29 age group), 49% said tablets will not replace the PC and 37% said they will. A higher percentage of men (53%) than women (39%) foresee tablets overtaking laptops.

The tablet market was hot last year and is expected to remain so this year. IDC recently said it expected 2011 worldwide tablet shipments to total more than 63 million units, with Apple selling about 6 in 10 of those. Recent Canalys figures show a total PC market of 356 million units in 2011, minus tablets.

Circle Bob on Google+

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.

This story, "Nearly Half of Americans Surveyed See Tablets Wiping out Laptops" was originally published by Network World.