iPad, therefore I Kindle kill?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 03 December 2010 13:34

Your IT - Mobility

In a survey of 2812 US consumers, ChangeWave research has discovered that the 'iPad's share of the overall market has doubled' since ChangeWave's last survey 'of e-Reader owners', and while Amazon's Kindle is still in the lead, the iPad is very quickly iCatching up!

In news that will come as no surprise to some, but will require a US $1500 ChangeWave report for others to truly believe, ChangeWave's VP of Research, Paul Carton says the iPad is gaining on the less capable but more reader-friendly Amazon Kindle.

As noted, some won't need a carton of research to have seen this coming, indeed it has been predicted for some time, but it is always good to have sold research data to back up assumptions.

ChangeWave's Mr Carton has released a précis of his report here at Investor Place, complete with nice graphs, where he shares that Amazon's Kindle holds 47% of the market, down 15 points, while Apple's iPad now holds 32% of the market - a big 16 point jump, and double the figures of the previous August ChangeWave survey.

While Barnes and Noble's Nook is feted in reviews as being a solid e-Reader, it can only pick up a less than noble 4% of the market, unable to beat Sony's Reader at 5%.

In terms of user satisfaction, Mr Carton says that both the Kindle and iPad are 'highly rated', but while Kindle only has a 54% 'very satisfied' rating, the iPad when used as an e-Reader scores a whopping 75% on the 'very satisfied' rating scale.

Unsurprisingly, we discover that 93% of Kindle owners are 'more likely to read books on their device', which is a given considering it's the Kindle's outstanding main function, despite quite basic media playing, web browsing and gaming capabilities.

Still, 76% of iPad owners surveyed do use the iPad to actually read books, likely using a variety of e-reading software, but iPad owners are 'nearly five times more like to read Newspapers and Magazines than their Kindle counterparts, and 15 times more likely to read Blogs and News Feeds.'

Mr Carton points towards Apple's desire to have the iPad become a versatile multi-media device, and on these figures (and the wealth of native apps for the iPad', Mr Carton's claim that 'Apple has been highly successful in this regard to date' based on his survey results seems clearly justified.

So, what about e-Reader purchases to come over the all-important, super-profitable end-of-year holiday shopping season?

Continued on page two, please e-Read on!