While electronics vendors struggle to gain traction in the emerging media tablet market, Apple has managed to maintain a significant lead in the space despite an increasing number of rival offerings. Apple’s share of the global tablet market in the third quarter was estimated to be 61.5% by market research firm IDC, and it’s not just momentum keeping the company’s market share high. Apple’s user experience on the iPad has been touted by many as having a huge lead over rival platforms, and the majority of iPad owners seem to agree according to the results of a recent survey. Read on for more.

Wichita State University’s Software Usability Research Laboratory conducted a survey of iPad owners and found that 83.65% of users are satisfied with the tablet. 62% rated the Apple tablet as “excellent,” 21% said it was “good” and 10% of respondents said it was the “best imaginable” tablet. 4% of those surveyed said the tablet was “fair,” 2% said it was “poor” and another 2% called the device “awful.”

SURL’s study used a small sample set of 52 respondents, but the results mirror a number of larger studies that sought to determine users’ satisfaction level with the iPad. Studies conducted by ChangeWave have found the iPad’s satisfaction rating to be as high as 95%, and a recent user survey conducted by PCWorld determined that the iPad is “miles ahead of the pack in durability, ease of use, and features such as battery life, screen quality, and overall speed.”

The Software Usability Research Laboratory at Wichita State University also found that apps continue to be a big draw for iPad users — 46% of users have between 21 and 60 apps installed on their iPads — and web browsing is still one of the most common uses for the Apple tablet. Almost 90% of respondents said they browse the Internet daily on their iPads while less than 70% said they checked their email each day, the second most popular iPad function according to the survey, and just over 60% said they read the news on their iPads every day.

[Via The Loop]

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