[SensualPoet]

The article states Apple sold 15 million iPads in 2010, three times the number of Kindles sold in three years. More recent data suggests Amazon actually sold 7 to 8 million Kindles in 2010 -- half as many as Apple sold iPads. In addition, Barnes and Noble sold "millions" of Nooks and both Kobo and Sony continued as leading ereader brands. I make the point to underscore that, while Apple's iPad revolution is nothing short of extraordinary (only Apple was able to find the secret sauce to make tablets exciting), it is within reach to suggest a 1 for 1 sales ratio between ereaders and iPads, at least in 2010.

The second point never makes it into these surveys but some of us at Mobileread can attest to: once you own a Kindle (Nook, Kobo, etc), what's the ratio of ebook to print books you purchase? For many of us, print book purchases have slid to close to zero, at least where an ebook is available.

And a third point still to be teased out from the surveys: are there many folks buying ebooks today who were low volume print book buyers in the past? This segment represents absolute growth in the book industry and I am also certain there are some of us here who fit that metric. I certainly do: I purchased at least 30+ ebooks in 2010 which is 29+ more than the print books I purchased in 2009. In other words, ereaders brought me back to the world of book buying.