The report also showed that the tablet devices are not only overtaking e-readers, but are also eating away the market share for traditional printed books. Pew found that while e-readership ownership is now at 19 percent, one in four Americans are in possession of their very own tablet computer.
Another statistic recorded by the Washington-based think tank is that one in three people in the United States now own some kind of digital reading device, whether it’s a tablet, an e-reader or both.
There was a more than twofold rise in tablets over December 2011, when tablet and e-reader ownership were at roughly the same level. During that survey, just 10 percent of surveyed respondents said they owned one device or another.
Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, said the survey didn’t measure which devices were leading the market for tablets and e-readers. However, TechCrunch points out that an estimate by Strategy Analytics found that Apple’s iPad was leading the pack.
Pew said that the rise of tablet and e-reader ownership has had a direct impact on how many people are turning to electronic forms of the written word rather than printed books when it comes to reading.
Twenty-three percent of the population aged 16 and older, compared to 16 percent a year ago, said they read e-books rather than printed books.
Though the number of people reading printed books continues to decline, it still remains much larger than e-readership. They said the percentage of readers who read printed books now stand at 67 percent, down from 72 percent a year ago.
Viewed demographically, Pew also found that the highest percentage of consumers reading at least one e-book over the past year is at 44 percent for those whose household income is at $75,000 or higher. Rainie pointed out that in past surveys, the research center has found that book reading has almost always been something that affluent people do more than poorer people.
People aged 30 to 49 were the most e-reading friendly, with 41 percent of all respondents in that age range saying they had read at least one e-book over the study period.
“Last year (not this year) we asked a question about whether people were reading more now that so much content was digitized,” Rainie told TechCrunch. “Thirty percent of people who read digital content – either books or longform journalism – say they are reading more now that they have the devices. “
Source: redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online
Pew Survey Says Tablets Dominate And E-Book Readership Continues To Soar