Quote:
Originally Posted by haertig
Of all my friends, I can't think of one who does not have an eReader. Us friends did not meet through a reading club - we all come from different backgrounds. I can't believe the eReader market is as small as you suggest. Smaller than the cellphone market, sure, but not all that small...
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I only know one person who regularly uses an ereader now, there are likely some though who, like myself, have an ereader but never use it anymore so don't count. The one I know who uses one is an author. I knew quite a number of people using them back some years now.
I don't commute on public transport but every couple of weeks I take a train trip into the CBD here which is an hour each way and the majority of passengers are on for the whole distance, so plenty of time for reading, etc. I have not seen anyone using an ereader on that route for several years now and I take an interest in what devices people are using and what for - all phones and tablets ( fewer tablets) being used for all the things they are capable of, including reading, plus pbooks. I would be hard pressed to specifically say when I actually saw anyone using an ereader anywhere at all, it was so far ago I just don't recall.
Of course it could be that there are some people that I see using smartphones for reading while away from home but usually read on an ereader at home, just that a phone is more convenient for them to carry.
One thing I have noticed over the last few years, such as on that train route above but also in cafes, etc., is the big growth in the numbers of elderly people now using smartphones and the variety of uses they are putting them to, including reading.
The last data I have for NZ is nearly 5 years old but at that time over 70% of people had a smartphone for private use and over 50% of people had a tablet for private use. So it is probable that well over 90% have a smartphone now; the number having tablets may have grown significantly (although the bigger smartphones that have become usual will have had some negating influence). I watch stocks of ereaders (and other devices) on retail shelves and talk to retailers here; retail display levels of ereaders comes and goes, often not displayed at all, the retailers tell me they are very slow movers with most purchasers specifically choosing something to read on going for a tablet.
For the sake of the forumite who when I last mentioned some of the above seemed to think it of great importance to school me in how the rest of the world was very different and to also give me marketing lessons, my comments above apply to my own country and I am in no need of marketing lessons, I have already had those in a proper place of learning
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