Emma Laybourn's Blog - Posts Tagged "ebook-apps"
How many people read ebooks on their mobile phones?
Three weeks ago, Google sent me an email that made me go Aargh. The reason? It told me that my website was not mobile-phone-friendly - and that unless I fixed it, I could expect my search rankings to plummet when Google change their algorithms later this month.
So mobile phones now rule. When I started my children's story website Megamouse Books three years ago, this development never occurred to me. I certainly didn't expect people to read children's stories on their phones. So, Google rankings apart, would an overhaul of my website not be just a massive waste of time?
After all, how many people actually use smartphones for reading? On hunting for figures, I found two surveys carried out in 2014. One, by UNESCO, covered seven developing countries, while the other, by Publishing Technology, only looked at the UK.
The UK first. This survey reported that 43% of smartphone owners used their phones for reading ebooks; possession of an iPhone made it more likely that its owner would read on it. The most popular reading apps were Kindle (50%) and the iBooks app (31%). Older people were more likely to use the Kindle app. However, significant numbers of people were put off reading via mobiles because they found the experience unpleasant or difficult. It was suggested that poor ebook formatting and clunky technology could be to blame.
UNESCO surveyed seven countries in Africa and Asia where internet access is limited and levels of illiteracy (especially for women) as high as 70%. It found that male mobile readers were 3 times more numerous than female - not surprisingly, as men were more likely to own mobile phones. However, each woman spent, on average, twice as long reading as each man, and the most avid readers were more likely to be women.
Most mobile readers were aged from 16 to 40 or so; very few were older. They tended to be more educated than the general population. The reason most often given for mobile reading was convenience - i.e., because phones were portable and always there. Cost came some way behind. 27% cited a lack of access to print books as an important secondary reason for using mobiles.
From my point of view, an interesting finding was that although very few children used mobiles to read, a third of adult users - both men and women - read to children from their phones, and said they would do it more if there was more suitable material available.
That answered my question. My website has many users from developing countries, and making it mobile-friendly is not a waste of time. So I've fixed it - for now. In another three years, who knows how people will be choosing to read?
So mobile phones now rule. When I started my children's story website Megamouse Books three years ago, this development never occurred to me. I certainly didn't expect people to read children's stories on their phones. So, Google rankings apart, would an overhaul of my website not be just a massive waste of time?
After all, how many people actually use smartphones for reading? On hunting for figures, I found two surveys carried out in 2014. One, by UNESCO, covered seven developing countries, while the other, by Publishing Technology, only looked at the UK.
The UK first. This survey reported that 43% of smartphone owners used their phones for reading ebooks; possession of an iPhone made it more likely that its owner would read on it. The most popular reading apps were Kindle (50%) and the iBooks app (31%). Older people were more likely to use the Kindle app. However, significant numbers of people were put off reading via mobiles because they found the experience unpleasant or difficult. It was suggested that poor ebook formatting and clunky technology could be to blame.
UNESCO surveyed seven countries in Africa and Asia where internet access is limited and levels of illiteracy (especially for women) as high as 70%. It found that male mobile readers were 3 times more numerous than female - not surprisingly, as men were more likely to own mobile phones. However, each woman spent, on average, twice as long reading as each man, and the most avid readers were more likely to be women.
Most mobile readers were aged from 16 to 40 or so; very few were older. They tended to be more educated than the general population. The reason most often given for mobile reading was convenience - i.e., because phones were portable and always there. Cost came some way behind. 27% cited a lack of access to print books as an important secondary reason for using mobiles.
From my point of view, an interesting finding was that although very few children used mobiles to read, a third of adult users - both men and women - read to children from their phones, and said they would do it more if there was more suitable material available.
That answered my question. My website has many users from developing countries, and making it mobile-friendly is not a waste of time. So I've fixed it - for now. In another three years, who knows how people will be choosing to read?
