The initial response to the Apple iPad, launched about six weeks ago, has been positive, according to two new surveys, with magazines and newspapers gaining much of the readership.

PC World reports that: “According to a pair of surveys by ChangeWave Research released on Thursday, the iconic device has indeed (been a success). If anything, the consumer response to the iPad has only increased since its release.”

It adds that: “The first of the two surveys measured future demand for the iPad among 3,174 consumers. Of them, 7 percent said they're very likely to buy an iPad and 13 percent said they were somewhat likely. That handily beats the figures from ChangeWave's pre-launch survey in February 2010, which recorded 4 percent as very likely and 9 percent as somewhat likely."

It also revealed that magazines and newspapers were seeing many of the gains from the new device: “While the vast majority have read a book on their device of choice, the last few months have seen surprising gains in newspaper and magazine consumption. In February, those numbers stood at 11 percent and 7 percent respectively; in May, they've jumped to 18 percent and 14 percent. iPad users in particular were more likely to read that kind of content with 50 percent reading newspapers and 38 percent reading magazines versus 14 percent and 11 percent of users of other readers.”