Ebook readers continue to prefer Amazon.com; ereaders giving way to tablets, however

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Ebook readers continue to prefer Amazon.com; ereaders giving way to tablets, however

Readers who prefer ebooks continue to rely on Amazon Kindle for their ereading device and likely will continue to do so in the year ahead.

Indeed, of ereaders and tablets (A tablet can serve as an ereader but allows access to other entertainment such as videos and music.) that carry ebooks, Amazon Kindle dominates. Of those who read ebooks, 38 percent do so on a Kindle ereader, according to a Book Industry Study Group done in summer 2013. Amazon’s Kindle Fire Tablet is in third place at 25 percent.

Apple follows in second place. Of ebook readers, 27 percent do so on an iPad tablet and another 5 percent on an iPad mini tablet.

Barnes and Noble’s Nook is in third with 11 percent using a Nook ereader and 5 percent a Nook tablet.

Google ranks fourth with its Android tablet (such as a Samsung Galaxy) at 12 percent. Microsoft lags in last with its surface tablet at 2 percent.

Be aware that these numbers add up to more than 100 because sometimes readers own and use more than one device to access ebooks.

In the year ahead, ebook readership likely will tilt to tablets with ereaders diminishing in importance. About a third of ebook readers plan to buy a tablet rather than a Kindle or Nook ereader.

This likely won't reduce, at least in any dramatic fashion, Amazon's domination of the ebook market. An equal percentage of ereader owners plan to buy either an Apple iPad tablet or the Kindle Fire tablet.

It probably will result in a reduction of Barnes and Noble's market share, however, as ereader owners planning to buy either a Nook ereader or a Nook Tablet rank at the bottom of all of the aforementioned readers and tablets.

How does this impact self-publishing? Rather than developing ebooks solely for simple ereaders, authors and publishers will need to think about how the tablet might affect the way readers interact and use books.

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