An expansive survey by analysts, TNS has discovered that only 17% of UK consumers would consider purchasing a tablet over the next six months.

This was backed up by a similar survey conducted by broadbandgenie.co.uk, which found that just under 20% of Brits said they probably would purchase a tablet device.

TNS’ survey collected data from 34,000 people in 43 countries, and showed that the average level of tablet interest in Europe was 28%, compared to 31% in Asia.

This information goes against the grain of recent reports that 2011 will be a year of unbridled success for the tablet market.

The findings also showed that 11 million Britons use mobile devices to check social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and that 5.5 million do this at least once per day. A further 8 million said they would be interested in accessing social networks from mobile devices in the future.

This may seem contradictory to the level of tablet interest displayed by UK consumers, but when you consider that social networks are far more conveniently accessible from a smartphone device than a tablet, and that 17 million Britons now own smartphones, you can see why tablet manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung are going to have to produce something pretty special to turn heads.

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