Kids want Santa to bring iPads not consoles

Reg readers may be grizzled old gits who have no truck with all that shiny fluff that Jobs bloke puts out, but younger generations are in love with the stuff. According to market watcher Nielsen, US kids aged between six and 12 are more likely to nag their parents for an iPad this Christmas than any games console, be it fixed …

[Citizen Kaned]

ok but...

i guess most kids have a console of some sort. if you asked me i would rather have an ipad over a console - since i own a ps3.

now, if they only asked the kids that didnt have a console it would be more accurate way of finding which ones kids prefer.

also remember the brainwashing from apple.

[SillyWilly]

O rly?

"Reg readers may be grizzled old gits who have no truck with all that shiny fluff that Jobs bloke puts out"

They may well be, this one isn't though.

[Anonymous Coward]

In other words

Whatever's been shoved down their throats by the marketing scum is what they want. Surprise, surfuckingprise. It's a fucking shiny object, they don't have a fucking clue what it does, they're just asking for it cos everyone else "seems" to be, rich brats take the lead and they all whine and cry so they can keep up. Of course, todays limp-wristed parents will succumb and spoil the fuckers with something they'll get bored of within 2 months. Smack on the side of the head is what they need, that and a hula hoop lol

[Toastan Buttar]

iPod Touch FTW

Nintendo must have got a real fright with the iPod Touch. With games and other apps costing from free up to about £1.99, it makes you wonder how the DS range continues to sell.

[Daniel B.]

Because it's FUN

The Nintendo DS has Mario Kart! *Multiplayer* Mario Kart! Are there any multiplayer games on the iThingies? No?

All the EleanorRigby's might rather play single-player games like Angry Birds, but kids, teens and even some young adults love multiplayer games, and in the mobile arena, the DS and PSP are still the only platforms with this option.

I doubt Nintendo is cowering in fear about the iDevices. It's a fad, it'll pass. They're probably more concerned with the Wii actually being the 'passing fad' right there.

[Tim Almond]

Not really

DS games are just in a different league of gaming. The DS is a games machine. The iPod touch is a touch device that can do games. It's not just the lack of a D-Pad and A/B buttons. It's the lack of the microphone and that there's no stylus (so input is less accurate).

All of this means that the range of games on iOS (or Android) is restricted to games that work fine with touch. So things like Angry Birds, tower defence games, bejewelled or board games. You can't have Lego Indiana Jones or platform games.

iOS probably makes more sense of older teenagers that want to also music, tweeting and Facebook, but for kids who don't need those features then the DS still wins.

[Mike Shepherd]

Don't these brats...

...know there's a recession on ?

Give them a whip and top, then send them to bed at 6.30.

[Anonymous Coward]

The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

Do you want a PS3, XBox or an iPad?

Well I have an XBox and a PS3 so an iPad please.

So more people want iPads than consoles because they already have them!

[Anonymous Coward]

A hula hoop.....

a hula hoop, luxury that is, when I were a lad, I was lucky to get a piece of coal for Christmas.

[Dick Head]

Grizzled old gits like myself...

...might prefer Register reportards to keep their assumptions of our what we like to themselves.

[Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware]

Re: Grizzled old gits like myself...

As a grizzled old git and a reportard, all I have to say is:

!!###!***@@ readtards

[Geoff Campbell]

Ah, yes, a recent conversation:

Campbell Jr. "Daddy, can I have an iPad?"

Campbell Snr. "Of course you can, dearest offspring."

Campbell Jr. "What? Really? For Christmas?"

Campbell Snr. "Don't be so bloody stupid. Start saving. Oh, and you'll need to budget for a PC to install iTunes on, it's not coming anywhere near anything I support."

She hasn't spoken to me since. I have a feeling she'll be relating the story to a therapist some years hence....

GJC

[Laurie]

You're my hero!

See title.

[James Hughes 1]

Too expensive for most parents?

Or are most parents too stupid/weak to realise that racking up huge debt just to satisfy little Jonny's iCraving is why we find ourselves in the currently shit economic state.

Mine asked for Lego. Even that's sodding expensive. Bah Humbug. (Thank god Lego isn't made by Apple)

[LinkOfHyrule]

If LEGO was made by Apple

If LEGO was made by Apple you would only be able to get black bricks at the moment - as Steve has yet to find a white plastic he likes for the white bricks!

[WorkingFromHome]

Ebooks

"E-book readers scored a mere 11 per cent, book buffs will be shocked to learn"

Actually the fact that 11% of 6-12 year olds want an e-reader is quite impressive - I'm suprised its this high.

[Annihilator]

Hopefully doesn't correlate

6-12 yr olds can nag all they like. I really really hope that a parent of a bloody 6 year old wouldn't be relenting and buying a PS3/iPad etc etc. Or rather I wouldn't be.

Grumble grumble... don't know they're born... in my day.. etc

[Daniel B.]

Re: nagging kids

You can buy 'em the iPad or PS3 .. but condition it to good grades, being a good boy. Then the kid will actually make an effort to get what he/she wants, and will be grateful of having what he wanted.

Even better: Make 'em save money for the stuff they want. :)

[ElReg!comments!Pierre]

"Mac or PC, they weren't asked"

Surely you mean "which brand of PC, they weren't asked, it seems".

I'm currently a Dell, because PCs are far too prone to virus infection. Also, Dells just work whereas PCs crash all the time. You, are you a Dell or a PC?

Do you prefer Android or Linux? Snow Leopard or MacOS? You want a laptop or a MacBook? Shoes or Nikes?

This is marketing-induced stupidity. On TV or in the Daily Mail it's OK (barely), but you guys should really know better. Especially as it really comes out of the blue, you deliberately added the very piece of stupidity that Nielsen managed to avoid. You almost had it right with the "non-Apple smartphones" but then "Mac or PC, they weren't asked". AAARRRGHH

That is all, sorry for the rant.

[Daniel B.]

I feel your pain

I found it really stupid that the "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" ads came out right around the time that the Macs became fruity PCs, that is, jumped to x86 iron.

Mac = Apple-branded PCs running OSX.

[JaitcH]

Credit cards cancelled, mortgage under water, potential job losses

So where is the money coming from to once again indulge these spoilt little Demons?

I think there will be a lot of disappointed faces on Christmas morning.