Study claims more consumers want Windows tablets than iOS

A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has made some bold conclusions about user preferences in the tablet market.

As reported by AllThingsD, the BCG study found that 44 percent and 42 percent of China and U.S. costumers, respectively, prefer Windows as the tablet operating system of choice. Interestingly, iOS came out second by a noticeable margin at 34 percent in China and 27 percent in the U.S. Exactly how the company performed the study was not provided in the source, so the graph below should be taken with a grain of salt.

Regardless, such results are currently in complete contradiction to real-world consumer practices. Apple’s iPad is practically the tablet king in terms of sales and recognition while Windows 7 tablets continue to dwell in near obscurity. At last count, Apple has been set to churn out almost 20 million iPad 2 units in Q3 2011 alone with up to an additional 13 million units by the end of the holiday season.

The study does, however, indicate that consumers may be patiently awaiting the launch of Windows 8, which will be fully optimized for not just tablet and multi-touch use, but for ARM processors as well. Windows tablets may be more appealing to businesses as well, since the device will be able to communicate more effectively with a Windows-based network compared to iOS. Manufacturers are not expected to begin selling Windows 8 tablets until early 2012.

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