Canadians love to read digitally and Booknet Canada recently released new information on what devices are used the most. Almost everyone who reads ebooks (90%) own a smartphone, 70% own a tablet, and 42% own a dedicated e-reader. Most ebook readers prefer to read on a tablet (32%), though this is down 3% from the previous year, continuing a slight downward trend in recent years. Meanwhile, 29% of ebook readers primarily read ebooks on their e-reader, an increase of 4% from the previous year; 22% primarily read ebooks on their smartphone, a small increase of 1%; and 17% primarily read ebooks on a computer, an increase of 1% from the previous year.
Since so many Canadians own a smartphone, it makes sense to dive deeper into the data. 42% of ebook readers said they read books on their smartphone at least once a month, which is a significant increase from the 33% who said the same in last year’s survey. The most popular apps that are used are Amazon Kindle (39%), Kobo (23%), internet browsers (20%), Google Books (19%), Apple Books (15%), and OverDrive/Libby (14%).
When it comes to e-Readers, smartphones and tablets, Canadians tend to get their content from the same sources. Readers mostly acquire ebooks from an online retailer such as Amazon or Kobo (36%), from a website offering free downloads (24%), the library (21%), or a subscription service such as Kindle Unlimited or Scribd (12%).
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
