In May of 2010 only about 6% of U.S. adults aged 16 or older owned a tablet or e-reader. The iPad from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPL) was introduced to the market in March of the following year, and by September of this year some 43% of America’s adult own one or the other of the devices. Tablet ownership now stands at 35% and e-reader ownership stands at 24%.
E-reader ownership was greater than tablet ownership until the end of 2011, when tablets pulled even with e-readers at 10% of all adults. Since then it’s really been no contest and tablets have widened their share of the market to the point where 35% of American adults own tablets compared with 24% who own e-readers.
The data comes from the latest update on tablet and e-reader ownership from Pew Research’s Internet & American Life Project. Here’s a chart from Pew Research:
Some interesting data points from the Pew report:
- Men and women own tablets in about equal percentages, but a larger percentage of women own e-readers
- By age, 16-17 year olds have the largest percentage — 46% — of tablet ownership and the second largest percentage of e-reader ownership, 24% tied with 18-29 year-olds
- Of households with more than $150,000 in income, 65% own tablets and 38% own e-readers
- More than twice as many Americans own cell phones as own tablets or e-readers, 91% to 43%
- 55% of American adults own a smartphone
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