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“Back in our February Apple iPad survey report we found ‘The pre-launch demand for the new iPad is greater than the pre-launch demand for the original iPhone,'” ChangeWave Research reports. “It wasn’t surprising, therefore, when in early May Apple announced 1 million iPads sold in the first month – and reported that sales had outpaced those of the original iPhone.”

But now that the iPad has been on the market for several weeks, ChangeWave has just completed two brand new surveys:

• A May survey of 3,174 consumers to measure future demand for the iPad, and
• A second survey of 153 new iPad owners to discover their actual impressions of the new tablet device.

Here is a brief look at selected results from the ChangeWave report:

Future Demand Trends

Consumer demand for the Apple tablet going forward is even stronger than the extraordinary pre-launch demand we recorded back in our February ChangeWave survey.

A total of 7% of respondents now say they’re Very Likely to buy an iPad and another 13% say they are Somewhat Likely – the highest level of consumer interest we’ve seen to date, and far surpassing February’s pre-launch demand survey (4% Very Likely ; 9% Somewhat Likely).

Shaking Up the e-Reader Market

We took a close-up look at the e-Reader market to gauge the iPad’s impact – and the ChangeWave survey results show the iPad profoundly shaking up this market.

As part of our May survey, 245 respondents identified themselves as currently owning an e-Reader. We then asked this group to tell us which e-Reader they currently own.

Among e-Reader owners the Amazon Kindle (62%) remains the leader by a wide margin, but we note that the Apple iPad (16%) is already registering a 16% share of the e-Reader market just weeks after its initial release.

A Major Transformation in Content – The Rise of e-Newspapers and e-Magazines

Back in February 2010 and once again in May, we asked e-Reader owners to tell us the type of content they were reading with their devices. When we compare the responses from February (before the iPad launch) with the responses from May (after the iPad launch) we find a major transformation in progress regarding e-Reader content.

Which of the following types of content do you currently read with your eBook Reader?

The percentage reporting they read Newspapers (18%) on their e-Reader has surged 7-pts since February – as has the percentage who report they’re reading Magazines (14%; up 7-pts).

A close-up look at our May results has uncovered major differences in the type of content being consumed by iPad readers vs. all other e-Readers.

Importantly, fully half of iPad e-Readers (50%) say they read Newspapers on their tablet device compared to just 14% of all other e-Reader owners. Likewise, 38% of iPad e-Readers say they read Magazines compared to 11% of all other e-Reader owners.

In short, more than 3 times as many iPad e-Reader owners say they read Newspapers and Magazines as do all other e-Reader owners.

New Owners Weigh In On Their iPads

We also asked 153 new Apple iPad owners a series of questions to garner their reactions to the new tablet device – beginning with their level of customer satisfaction.

Overall, how satisfied are you with the Apple iPad?

In terms of overall satisfaction, the vast majority of owners believe the iPad is delivering on its promises – with three-in-four (74%) saying they’re Very Satisfied with their new tablet, and another 17% say they’re Somewhat Satisfied.

The iPad ratings are nearly identical to the highest rated Smart Phone among consumers – the Apple iPhone. But we note that Apple has now reached these nosebleed levels with a brand new product.

Source: ChangeWave

Apple are selling about 200000 iPads a week in the US alone.

iPad launched across Europe next Friday 28th May.