Last year, 7% of US adults owned a tablet, while 6% used an e-reader. This year, 12% of US adults own an e-reader, while only 8% own a tablet, a recent survey from the PewResearchCenter revealed. Only 3% of adults own both devices.
The change is mostly due to the success of Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes&Noble’s Nook, CNN reports.
Apple is leading the game in terms of sales, with about 25 million iPad units sold. Neither Amazon, nor Barnes&Noble have revealed their e-reader sales levels, but Amazon could sell 17.5 million Kindles in 2011, Citi’s analyst Mark Mahaney predicted.
E-Readers are very popular among adults under 65, college graduates and people who earn less than $75,000 per year.
"There was considerable growth in e-reader ownership between November 2010 and May 2011 among college graduates, one-fifth of whom now own these devices," Pew reports.
On the other hand, tablets are popular among Hispanic adults who earn over $75,000 per year and people "with at least some college education earning at least $30,000”.
Tablets may be more appealing in terms of functionality, but e-readers are a lot cheaper, and this may be a key factor in the purchasing decision.
Kindle has a price-tag of $114, and the Nook can be purchased for $139, while the least expensive iPad 2 costs $499.