Smartphones Pushing Out Ereading Devices

[conan50]

For example, e-reader device ownership has fallen. Today, about one-in-five adults (19%) report owning an e-reader, while in early 2014 that share was a third (32%).

http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/2...wnership-2015/

[Cinisajoy]

Where did these figures come from?

[conan50]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Where did these figures come from?

Right at the top of the article: Pew Research Center.

[Ravensknight]

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=264295

[fjtorres]

Those numbers make no sense.
They say that a third of all adults were using ereaders in 2014, when ebook penetration (on ereaders and phones and tablets) barely reached 24%.
And suddenly, one year later over a third of those people threw the ereaders away?

Yeah, i want to know where Pew Pew got those numbers.
And who paid for this new study.

[ebusinesstutor]

This is just a survey of 1907 adults in 50 states, not a comprehensive study by any means So how accurate is it likely to be?

However, overall I do think e-reader use is dropping as people read more on their smart phones and tablets.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Those numbers make no sense.
They say that a third of all adults were using ereaders in 2014, when ebook penetration (on ereaders and phones and tablets) barely reached 24%.

That's what people told Pew interviewers. It doesn't mean it's precisely true.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

And suddenly, one year later over a third of those people threw the ereaders away?

A lot of them were gifts to people who rarely read books, leading to the eInk devices now being forgotten.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

And who paid for this new study.

Answer:

We are a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, our primary funder.

The foundation's money comes from the family that owned Sun Oil. At this point, there is no plausible policy connection between Sunoco (or Amazon, or Apple, or Bertelsmann) and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

I think it is true that eReaders are becoming less fashionable. At some point that could be a problem for me. But since I've got tiny screwdrivers, and repair parts, and are not afraid to use them, I'm hardly worried yet.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

I think it is true that eReaders are becoming less fashionable. At some point that could be a problem for me. But since I've got tiny screwdrivers, and repair parts, and are not afraid to use them, I'm hardly worried yet.

My fall back for the demise of ereaders is to switch completely to audiobooks. Right now, I read one ebook for every three to four audiobooks I listen to. So it would be an easy, painless switch.

[Apache]

It does not matter what device you read on, you are still reading. Any device you use to read with is technically a book while you are reading.
Apache

[fjtorres]

I don't have a problem with the 2015 number, it is the 2014 number that they use (32% of adults using ereaders?) that jumps out at me. That number smells. Again, ebook penetration was about 24% early last year. So there were more people "using ereaders" that reading ebooks?

I don't doubt there are less ereaders in use now than, say, in 2012-13. There are less ereader vendors active. And nook and Sony sold a lot of them in 2010-2011 that by now are out of use and haven't been replaced or have been replaced by tablets/phablets.

But a one third drop in one year?

I'm skeptical about their 2014 claim.

[kennyc]

Not in bright sunlight.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

But a one third drop in one year?

I'm skeptical about their 2014 claim.

It's such a small sample size (fewer than 2000 people) that I don't think it's statistically significant.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by conan50

Right at the top of the article: Pew Research Center.

Pew Research is at the very bottom of the research barrel, as far as reliable methodology goes.

It was originally founded several decades ago to produce in-house polling data for the (Chicago) Tribune corporation.
Real firms cost too much money, and often failed to craft results matching a newspaper story that was already written before the results came out to be added in.
With declining prestige (yes a lot of longtime Tribune readers had begun openly mocking everything they put out) the Tribune corporation changed the name from "Tribune Research" to "Pew Research" and spun it off as an independent entity.

It's been maybe ten or fifteen years since the name change, but I can't tell that there has been any improvement in methodology. Often they put stuff out with no hint of how their data was collected to be found anywhere.

After all these decades, I take anything they say about any topic with a dump truck full of salt and if they said that water was wet I would look for a corroborating source.

[cfrizz]

Of course people didn't throw them away, but I suspect that like me, once I discovered I could read just fine on my smart phone, I happily switched over to doing that. Plus I have the extra benefit of listening to my music at the same time.

I get all of these uses out of one device that fits in all of my pockets, that's a win for me and I suspect for the majority of people.

I still have my Sony reader, and I still add books to it, but it doesn't get a whole lot of use. I never was very big on reading outside so getting a eink just for that purpose doesn't make a lot of sense. But I will keep it till it dies, but I doubt I'll get another one, there simply isn't any need.

The majority of people who are riding on the subway with me are using phones and tablets for the entertainment/reading purposes.

BTW, a smart phone/tablet ARE ereading devices, if you can put ebooks on it then it is a ereading device!

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Those numbers make no sense.
They say that a third of all adults were using ereaders in 2014, when ebook penetration (on ereaders and phones and tablets) barely reached 24%.
And suddenly, one year later over a third of those people threw the ereaders away?

Yeah, i want to know where Pew Pew got those numbers.
And who paid for this new study.

[conan50]

I don't think anyone should be very surprised by those numbers and the shift away from dedicated ereading devices. I like my two e-ink devices, but it is easy to understand people moving toward a single device that handles multiple tasks. The 5" plus smartphones have just gotten traction over the past year, and that coincides with the demise of ereaders. I do not take my e-ink devices outside of the house, I read on my phone when I'm out and about. It is a small step to only read on a phone, and phone screen sizes have not only gotten larger, they have gotten better, higher resolution, easier on the eyes. I don't see myself completely dropping e-ink, but I imagine the move in that direction is well on its way for many readers.