Research: Half of iPad users have Windows device in home

Editor’s Note: The following article is reprinted from Network World.

A little more than half of all iPad user have a Windows computer at home, according to a sampling of nearly 75,000 of the tablet computers studied by online advertising network Chitika.

Chitika Research, sampling IP addresses of iPads that came into Chitika’s network, found that 50.96 percent of iPad users also had a Windows PC, with about 16 percent running Windows 7. Some 8.55 percent have an Apple iPhone that browses via Wi-Fi and about 63 percent have a machine running Mac OSX, according to the research.

“What this means is that the iPad, like the iPhone, has managed to transcend the Apple/Microsoft debate,” according to Chitika Research. “Despite their reputation as a niche computing company, Apple has created yet another product that strikes a chord with people who aren’t already within the Steve Jobs sphere of influence.”

Note that Chitika did limit its research to IP addresses with five or fewer devices so as to strip out businesses and retailers with dozens of Internet-linked devices.

The iPad is off to a hot start, with Apple claiming to have sold 500,000 units out of the gate and being forced to delay availability internationally due to a shortage.

Chitika raises questions about whether the mix of iPad/Windows households might change with the rollout of the HP Slate tablet and Microsoft’s rumored Courier tablet.