Apple Inc has already sold more than three million of its iPad tablet computers in just over three months, but there is still more demand out there, a new survey showed on Thursday.

While 8.4 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed by America's Research Group said they had already bought an iPad, another 6.1 percent said they planned to buy the device.

The fact that the number of people planning to buy is more than 70 percent of those who have already bought is a good sign for a device that sells for at least $499, said Britt Beemer, America's Research Group founder. That shows incredible demand for the product.

The iPad is already selling faster than analysts expected. In June, after the device hit three million sales, Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu said he expected the company to sell 9.7 million in 2010.

The iPad question was among several Beemer asked consumers as part of a wider survey commissioned by Reuters.

In other questions, 55.3 percent of those with children at home said they do not pay them an allowance. That number is low and shows a continuing decline from previous decades, Beemer said. In the 1970s, the number would have been about 80 percent and in the 1980s it was about 70 percent, Beemer said.

At the same time, most parents do not expect their children to have to spend money on back-to-school items.

Of those with children, nearly 85 percent said they do not ask their kids to spend their own money on back-to-school purchases. In comparison, in the 1990s, 38 percent of children spent some of their own money, Beemer said.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman; editing by Andre Grenon)

Ipad 2 Apple inc. Ipad