OK, a rather poor pun with which to talk about Apple’s Tablet PC, the ipad. However, ahead of Saturdays US launch, predictions by research firms, comScore and NPD Group suggest that 15-18% of consumers are considering an ipad, and around 9-10% will buy. The preferred uses include internet and email with some interest in e-books and music. It looks like the ipad will create a new demographic in the form of the ‘sofa surfer’.

Preditions of sales volumes are hard to come by but a guess would suggest 2-3 million units in the first year with 3.5 to 6 million units in year two. Given that the iphone sold close to 50m units in the first two years, that is way below it’s smaller mobile cousin. Will it be enough to create a new genre of computer and a significant group representing the sofa surfer.