Tablet vs eReader Demographics

A recent study conducted by Nielsen has come up with some interesting facts. By a slight majority, women have been found to be increasingly drawn towards e-book readers, while their male counterparts seem have found tablet PCs to their liking.  Presently the study reports 61 percent of women own a Kindle, a Nook, or any other such e-reader, a steady increase over the 46 percent of women who had such a device last year. When it comes to the tablet PCs the masculine factor prevails with 57 percent owners of tablets being males, though here too the fairer sex seems to be making inroads as the same figure a year ago stood at 61 percent.

There has also been some shift in the age profile of those using a tablet or an e-reader. In fact, the age of the group owning a tablet or an e-reader has changed quite rapidly in the last year. In the summer of 2010, 62 percent of the tablet and iPad owners were under the age group of 34. However, the figures now revel that the number is now 46 percent by the start of this summer. The study also indicates that the number of people who were over 55 years by age was 10 percent a year ago while it changed to 19 percent by mid 2011.

The reason for this shift in numbers has not been explained in the report. However it is well established that younger generation takes on the device at an early stage of its launch while older generation accepts it only after they have reached a certain level of comfort that the new devices are worth their time.

In any case, the reason for the rise in e-reader usage or e-book readership could be attributed partly to the lowering of price as well, as it becomes cost effective for individuals to carry small devices containing almost all the reading material they would need.

via gigaom