iPad, Kindle Fire Sales Help Number Of Tablet Owners To Soar Over Holiday Season: Pew

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tablets and e-readers were a popular gift over the holidays, so much so that the number of people who own them nearly doubled between mid-December and January, a new study finds.

A report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project set to be released Monday found that 29 percent of Americans owned at least one tablet or e-reader as of the beginning of this month. That's up from 18 percent who said the same in December.

The iPad from Apple Inc. is perhaps the best-known example of these gadgets, along with Amazon.com's various Kindle devices and the Nook from Barnes and Noble. The iPad put tablets on the map and the cheaper Kindle Fire and Nook devices helped get them in the hands of more people.

The percentage of people who own a tablet jumped to 19 from 10 between mid-December and early January. E-book reader ownership also rose to 19 percent from 10 percent of U.S. adults.

Men and women were equally likely to own tablets, and the likelihood of tablet ownership was higher for people with higher household incomes, the report found. Those with higher levels of education were also more likely to own tablets than those who completed fewer years of school.

E-readers, meanwhile, were slightly more common among women.

The figures are from ongoing surveys conducted by Pew about tablet and e-reader ownership. They were conducted between November 2011 and January 2012. The first, pre-holiday survey was conducted among 2,986 Americans 16 and older. Two post-holiday surveys were conducted among about 2,000 adults in January.

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Comments

[CKMJr]

05:59 PM on 01/24/2012

and, inevitably, an increase in tablet thefts...

[jacki650]

05:44 PM on 01/24/2012

I did hear of a lot of tablets being given and gotten this past holiday. My mom is a new tablet owner herself...she really wanted one for her birthday. Here is a list of the best tablets and a few reviews > http://www.skinnyscoop.com/list/SkinnyScoop_Staff/the-best-and-the-worst-tablets-a-roundup-of-reviews

I haven't gotten into the want for a tablet myself but I am willing to hear more pros for them.

[mrhandyman3105]

02:34 PM on 01/24/2012

I was at Outback Steakhouse this past month and next to me and my wife was this young couple with a child barely 2 years old. That in itself is nothing new. But what caught my attention was the barely 2 year old kid using an iPad and was using it better than some adults I've seen, and fast too.

[K White]

01:50 PM on 01/24/2012

It's time for me to upgrade my laptop and I'm considering an iPad 2 instead, but I can't shake feeling like a tablet would just be a bigger version of my cell phone (minus the calls). And I like having an actual keyboard and other laptop features that wouldn't be available on a tablet. Oh, well. I sure do love my Kindle, though.

[French Toast]

05:07 PM on 01/23/2012

I have a Kindle and I actually prefer it for a lot of my reading. It makes it significantly easier for me to read whilst standing. Also, I have bad eyes but prefer not to wear glasses. It is functional for me. I have the cheapest version and, believe it or not, the ads aren't intrusive (they mostly show up as the screensaver). Probably the most useful gift I got this year, aside from the customary socks.

[NHBill]

04:56 PM on 01/24/2012

Yeah its very good.
The software is a bit buggy.
I've had to reset my Kindle Touch several times.
But otherwise it's become essential.

[dwill123]

03:02 PM on 01/23/2012

29 percent of Americans have no idea what to do with their time.

[NHBill]

02:22 PM on 01/23/2012

I have a Kindle Touch and it's great but it bears absolutely no comparison with an iPad.
Lumping readers with tablets is absurd.

[The Notorious PDF]

02:06 PM on 01/23/2012

I just got a Kindle Fire this Saturday. The iPad is too expensive--I feel like I might as well buy a laptop for that kind of money--and I tested out the Nook Color, but I just preferred the aesthetics of the Kindle Fire. Plus, I already have an Amazon Prime account, so I already have content available at no extra cost that's seamlessly integrated into my Kindle. That being said, the Nook is a also fine machine. It's actually a better ereader if your consumption centers around magazines (the magazines fit perfectly into the screen, where they do not on the Kindle fire, and they read more like an actual magazine, although the print seems a little smaller), or if you plan on using it for children's books (I got a chance to test out a Charlie Brown book on the Nook, and it's cool how they semi-animate the book, and read it aloud to the kids so that they can follow along). The app selection though from what I've read is much more limited on the Nook, but both companies state that they're consistenly working on updating their app selection). It seems like both have their strengths depending on your personal tastes and on what you're looking for.

[steamchip]

11:36 AM on 01/23/2012

The refurbished iPads are a better deal with 80.00 to 100 off of new at the Apple Store, Refurbished iPad models there also include a brand new battery and outer shell.

--The larger screen and the ability to easily read / store large quantities of comic books easily is what attracted me to the PAD and it still maintains this advantage over the smaller tablet products. Value over the netbook in this regard is the pinch zoom of the hand to enlarge and turn pages while in various untraditional positions on the couch, bed, staircase.

--if I wish to reference a picture to illustrate in a painting, it is an easy matter to search up the image on a website then zoom it up on the screen and place the tablet somewhere next to my work area. Because it is a tablet, there is no keyboard exposed which can be dripped upon by water or paint.

And yes battery replacement will eventually be a concern. Battery compartments have always been a weakness in mobile devices, in many cases difficult for the end user to remove without damage and a prime source of repair, hence for better or worse, Apple took the built in battery route.

if one uses the Apple Service at this time you'll pay $105.95 (including shipping) for a completely different iPad. If you go elsewhere I have seen pricing for as low as 30-40 dollars for battery only replacement.

[stopgeorge]

11:33 AM on 01/23/2012

1 in 4 Americans are suckers. (except for the original Kindle folks).

[Warren Yuill]

11:27 AM on 01/23/2012

One in three live at, or below the poverty line.
Good to know they will get they're twitter updates in the soup line.

[thtech]

10:51 AM on 01/23/2012

I wonder how everyone will feel in a couple years time when the non replaceable batteries start to fail? The smart money is on convertible laptops with batteries that can be replaced easily by the user once they stop holding a charge. Not only are you getting 2 devices in one, but it's good for more than 2 years use.

[stopgeorge]

11:30 AM on 01/23/2012

Hybrids are definitely the way to go if people can't resist the touchscreen.

For me, touchscreens are ergonomically inferior to a laptop.

However, I can understand the e-reader that can, at least, be used outside.

[Silverwolf72]

12:55 PM on 01/23/2012

I still have a iphone 3gs and the battery is still fine and will last 2 days unless my kids start playing games on it. Most people generally will upgrade before their are battery issues.

[jsgaetano]

10:15 AM on 01/23/2012

And Kindle Fire will continue to gobble up Apple's lunch, nom nom nom. A $200 tablet or a $500 tablet? Gee... tough decision...

[jflorish]

10:24 AM on 01/23/2012

It's like why have Budweiser when you can have cheap Black Label beer instead? lol

[jsgaetano]

12:53 PM on 01/23/2012

LOL... yeah, pretty appropriate you compare Apple to an undrinkable swill like Budweiser. It's like all the college kids acting like they're cool, hanging out at their hipster bars drinking Budweiser because some commercial told them it was good... while people "in the know" are drinking Sam Adams or Hoegaarden and using superior tech products.

[cmacattack]

10:43 AM on 01/23/2012

More expensive yes, but you get what you pay for and with iPad you get several times more functionality. The fire is a good product don't get me wrong but it's a stepping stone. iPad has 100,000 more apps, more storage, has dual camera for stills and video and is compatible with more products and is 3G capable while the fire is wifi only and has no camera. Again i'm not saying the fire isn't worth it. it's a great product but you get what you pay for. If you want the best of the best then the iPad is still the better product.

[OneOleMan]

12:38 PM on 01/23/2012

I agree whole heartedly about the Kindle Fire being a great product for the price. Of the 11,000 plus reviews of the device on Amazon more than 80% give it 3 stars or better. I will disagree with iPad being the best of the best, at least for me. I have the Galaxy 8.9" 32 gig which is just the right size, IMO and it's a great big brother to my Android phone. I'm and old man whose anything but a techie but I do like gadgets.

[jsgaetano]

12:49 PM on 01/23/2012

You're not even thinking about what you're saying. Citing "apps" is irrelevant, since that's just software. There's nothing preventing an app writer from making their app for Android.

As far as "more storage", camera, video, 3g, etc... that's something the customer is paying $300 extra for. Is it worth $300? I suspect most people will say no, but that's why Apple will remain a niche product in the tablet market. There are people willing to pay a premium for things they'll never use, and a small amount of people willing to pay a premium for things they will use. For those people, there will be Apple. For everyone else, there will be Amazon's tablet.

[Gigity]

10:02 AM on 01/23/2012

Pew pew

[bklynzmorena]

10:00 AM on 01/23/2012

And the economy is sooo horrible... it seems not so much when we can spend $500 on a tablet.

[jsgaetano]

10:17 AM on 01/23/2012

Kindle Fire is only $200. Two hundy for a gateway to the internet is pretty darned cheap (although not as cheap as just getting old computer equipment, but that requires some technical acumen).

My primary unhappiness with the Kindle Fire is it doesn't support BlueTooth. Which is a shame, because it actually has hardware support for it.

[OneOleMan]

12:39 PM on 01/23/2012

"My primary unhappines­s with the Kindle Fire is it doesn't support BlueTooth. Which is a shame, because it actually has hardware support for it."

Betcha the next version will.