iPad owners are rich, posh and southern

According to Hitwise’s latest stats round up, potential iPad and iPhone owners are rich, West London liberals.

The latest Hitwise findings show UK Internet traffic to the official iPad website increased significantly in the run-up to the launch. Over 30% of visits to the site during the 4 weeks ending May 22 came from London and the South East, and people from London in particular are significantly over represented as visitors to the site. People living
in West London were 83% more likely to visit the iPad site than the UK average, while for those in East London the figure was 74%.

This is also reflected in the type of customers that visited the site over the same period. The two most over-indexed Experian Mosaic groups visiting the iPad homepage in the run-up to its UK release were: Alpha Territory (defined as “People with substantial wealth who live in the most sought after neighbourhoods”) and Liberal Opinions (“Young, well educated city dwellers enjoying the vibrancy and diversity of city life”).

However, the iPad still has a way to go before it overtakes the iPhone to become the UK’s most searched for consumer electronics product. During the week ending May 22nd there were six times more searches for the iPhone than for the iPad. Overall Apple is the most searched for consumer electronics brand in the UK, with its products and brands accounting for 10% of all consumer electronic searches during the week ending May 22.

However the Hitwise figures also show a potential threat for Apple and Hitwse warns that “The appearance of HTC in the list – at number 6 with 2% of the searches – should act as a warning to Apple that it faces stiff competition from Google’s Android operating system in the mobile phone and portable device market”.

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