A new Pew research survey of U.S. adults conducted in May, 2011 shows that ownership of electronic readers such as the Amazon Kindle or The Barnes & Noble Nook is now at 12 percent. The ownership of e-readers doubled from six months prior when it was 6 percent.
The adoption of e-readers continues to outpace tablets such as the iPad and Motorola Xoom. Only 8 percent of respondents said they won a tablet, compared to 5 percent six months earlier. So tablet ownership seems to be growing at a slower pace.
However, the line between an e-reader and tablet is beginning to blur. The Color Nook runs on a version of Android (albeit not as fully functional as the latest tablets). And of course, every tablet now has e-book apps from Kindle, Apple, and others.
Three percent of U.S. adults own both a tablet and an e-reader. (You early adopters will buy anything).
Both tablets and e-readers still trail well behind ownership of other digita devices such as MP3 players (44 percent), DVRs (52 percent), laptops (56 percent), desktops (57 percent), and cell phones (83 percent). This is also the first time in this survey that laptop and desktop ownership reached parity.
