Apple's iPad is Still a More Desirable Mother's Day Gift Than Flowers

Apple AAPL sold 19.5 million iPad units last quarter, and more than half of them were iPad Minis. Were consumers shopping early for Mother's Day? A new poll suggests that might be the case. According to TechBargains, 73 percent of moms would rather receive an iPad than a bouquet of flowers. These results should not surprise anyone -- Apple's tablet is worth so much more. While a large bouquet of flowers can be purchased from 1-800-Flowers.com FLWS for less than $100, the cheapest iPad starts at $329. After a few days of sitting in a vase, the flowers will begin to die off. An iPad, on the other hand, will still be a fully-functional device that allows moms to do almost anything. That said, fewer moms want an iPad this year than they did for Mother's Day 2012. When a similar poll was conducted 12 months ago, 91 percent of respondents said they would prefer an iPad to a bouquet of flowers. At the time, moms were also specifically asked which tablet they wanted. This question resulted in more diverse responses, with 64 percent saying that they wanted an iPad. Amazon's AMZN Kindle Fire received 23 percent of the votes. Hewlett-Packard's HPQ TouchPad came in third place with five percent of the votes, which is surprising when you consider that most retailers had stopped carrying it by then. Four percent of moms wanted a Samsung Galaxy Tab, while two percent of mothers surveyed said that they wanted some "other" tablet. In 2012, mothers also said that their favorite "tech device" was a laptop (37 percent of the votes), followed by:

• Cell Phone: 23 percent
• Tablet: 11 percent
• Digital Camera: nine percent
• Television: eight percent
• E-Reader: six percent
• Other: six percent

Despite these results, consumers seem to be more interested in buying their moms a tablet. In TechBargains' latest poll, the site asked, "If you will get your mother a tech gadget, which one [will it be]?"

• Tablet: 37 percent
• E-Reader: 14 percent
• Cell Phone: 10 percent
• Laptop: nine percent
• Digital Camera: seven percent
• Television: five percent
• Desktop Computer: two percent
• MP3 Player: one percent
• Other: 15 percent

Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ