Sprint iPad

Kids aged 6 to 12 want an iPad for the holidays more than anything else this year. According to a survey conducted by Nielsen Wire, 48% of kids surveyed said they want an iPad, and 39% want a Nintendo Wii U. Apple's iPod touch and iPad mini tied for third with 36% of the vote, and the iPhone beat out other smartphones, gaming consoles and tablets with 33% of children's interest.

While the 4th generation iPad and iPad mini are readily available from Apple and other retailers, the Wii U is largely sold out across the U.S.. Holiday shoppers have been turning to third party sellers, and online tracking services such as whohas.it to find a Wii U console. Scott Moffitt, executive vice president of marketing at Nintendo of America, said Nintendo is doing everything they can do to ensure the Wii U will be on store shelves this shopping season. However, some are accusing retail stores of hoarding Wii U consoles for Black Friday sales. Either way, it looks like Apple products will be the much easier gifts to find and buy this year.

Code in iOS 5.1 beta firmware has revealed a new iPad device that could be headed to the Sprint network. iPad 3 devices referred to by the codes iPad3,1 and iPad3,2 were revealed some time ago by 9to5Mac. The latest discovery is an iPad2,4 which would add a device to the iPad 2 lineup.

Existing devices include the Wi-Fi only iPad 2 (iPad2,1) and AT&T and Verizon models (iPad2,2 and iPad2,3 respectively). Sprint recently introduced the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on its network, surprising some observers who expected T-Mobile to be the next major carrier to carry Apple products.

There have been all kind of signs pointing to Sprint joining the iPhone family in October. Including a leaked internal memo informing Sprint employees of a vacation blackout in anticipation of a "major phone launch" starting September 30th.

On Wednesday, 9to5Mac reported that a Sprint-compatible iPad will be "joining the family of GSM (AT&T) and Verizon capable Apple tablets before the holidays." 9to5 believes that the Sprint iPad will launch soon after the Sprint iPhone is released in October, but they can't confirm if it will run on Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network.