33 percent of Windows users intend to buy a Mac

There are some fun quotes about statistics, such as "There are lies, damned lies and statistics," and "90% of all statistics are made up," (including that one). You can manipulate statistics to support any point of view you  like. There is always some statistic somewhere that you can quite. Examine the figures though and things aren't quite what they seem.

Here is an article: 33% of Windows users intend to buy a Mac or iPad instead of upgrading to Windows 8. The original source is an Avast! survey reported in USA Today.

It sounds like 33% of Windows users intend to buy an iPad or Mac instead of Windows 8. After all, that's what the headline says. But here is the original information:

Avast's poll of U.S. Windows users found 16% planned to purchase a new computer. While 68% indicated they would get one of the new Windows 8 models, 30% planned to buy an Apple iPad touch tablet, and 12%, an Apple Macintosh computer.

So only 16% of Windows users planned to buy a new computer and 30% of these planned to buy an iPad. That is 30% of the 16% that intend to buy a new computer, which is 4.8% of the total surveyed. Only 12% planned to buy a Mac, which is 12% of 16% or 1.92%.

Add them together and the headline should say: 6.72% of Windows users intend to buy a Mac or iPad instead of upgrading to Windows 8. Actually, I'm not sure about the word 'instead'. It's possible that people could upgrade to Windows 8 and buy an iPad. I have both for instance. It depends on how the survey questions were phrased.

An alternative headline would be: 94% of Windows users reject the iPad and Mac as an upgrade option. After all, only 16% are planning to buy new hardware and 68% of those are planning to buy a Windows 8 PC. The things you can do with statistics.