How popular are ereaders? Not very I would say.

[corona]

Originally Posted by sufue

I'm definitely in the group that reads on my Android phone, because I don't want to carry two devices.

I'm a putatively mature university student, so I'm always on public transit with the younger people. They all have at least two devices, which they are fiddling with constantly.

Oh, and in my city, Vancouver, I very rarely see another person with an e-reader. I think I've seen perhaps half a dozen in a year and a half of incessant public transit travel.

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by corona

I'm a putatively mature university student, so I'm always on public transit with the younger people. They all have at least two devices, which they are fiddling with constantly.

Oh, and in my city, Vancouver, I very rarely see another person with an e-reader. I think I've seen perhaps half a dozen in a year and a half of incessant public transit travel.

I see more ipads than e-readers. There's quite a bit of ipads with the white collar commuters to Vancouver and people travelling from affluent areas. More ipads on skytrains (especially the Canada line) than on buses. And I've never seen an ipad on the buses that pass by Main @ East Hastings :P

[Wetdogeared]

Originally Posted by bashfulbanshee

I'm in Vancouver, Canada. I'm usually the only person on the bus with an e-reader. I have seen people with ipads and other e-readers though, but only once in a while. So maybe 1 in every 30 people I see reading a book. There tends to be more e-readers and ipads with the white-collar work crowd and the university crowd, so it depends on when you take the bus.

Originally Posted by corona

I'm a putatively mature university student, so I'm always on public transit with the younger people. They all have at least two devices, which they are fiddling with constantly.

Oh, and in my city, Vancouver, I very rarely see another person with an e-reader. I think I've seen perhaps half a dozen in a year and a half of incessant public transit travel.

Originally Posted by bashfulbanshee

I see more ipads than e-readers. There's quite a bit of ipads with the white collar commuters to Vancouver and people travelling from affluent areas. More ipads on skytrains (especially the Canada line) than on buses. And I've never seen an ipad on the buses that pass by Main @ East Hastings :P

There used to be only about 2 MobileRead members posting regularly from Vancouver. Now there are more than a dozen.

I've seen a few ebook readers on the Expo line, but I couldn't recognize all the makes. Most riders have earbuds on and the volume turned up so loud that I can hear their music selection from 20 feet away.

If you take the B-Line bus down Broadway to UBC, every other student seems to have an IPad. Having an APple store on campus may be the source.

[Frida Fantastic]

Originally Posted by Wetdogeared

There used to be only about 2 MobileRead members posting regularly from Vancouver. Now there are more than a dozen.

Heh. Maybe there should be a Vancouver get together. Have over a dozen people invade one coffee shop with e-readers, sit down, and just read in silence ;D It could be the most tame flash mob ever.

[jbcohen]

I hear you suefu on top of that my employer gives me the phone free with free unlimited air time so why not.

[dixieknits]

I live in a Florida gulfcoast retirement town and every waiting room, restaurant or park I enter, there are folks reading Nooks and Kindles and arguing about which is better. Our local B & N can't keep them stocked.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by dixieknits

I live in a Florida gulfcoast retirement town and every waiting room, restaurant or park I enter, there are folks reading Nooks and Kindles and arguing about which is better. Our local B & N can't keep them stocked.

Geezers and Geezeresses of the world unite! All we need are e-book readers...

No twitter or facebook for us...

(Easy, it's a joke..)

[estelle58]

I see somebody with an ereader a couple of times a week on the subway but this morning a young lady sat beside me and she had a new Kobo Touch, she said she loves it

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by dixieknits

I live in a Florida gulfcoast retirement town and every waiting room, restaurant or park I enter, there are folks reading Nooks and Kindles and arguing about which is better. Our local B & N can't keep them stocked.

I am delighted to hear this. I'd love to eavesdrop on some of those spirited discussions.

[Aladyleyna]

I take public transport regularly, and I've seen a dedicated ebook reader, a Kindle for that matter, only once. That's probably because in Singapore, it makes no sense to actually own a Kindle unless you're an expatriate who is able to access the various ebook stores. But I do see quite a lot of paperback books though.

Ah... But there's the iPhones though. I see a lot of iPhones. iPads are less common though, I seem them very rarely in public transport. So far,I've seen only three of them, excluding my own, but I guess they would be more common in the more affluent areas.

[lestatar]

^ This sounds identical to the situation in HK - makes sense really...

[lothlann]

On the London underground I see quite a few kindles and sony readers. See a lot of iPads too but I am unsure whether they were using them for reading books.

I would estimate 1 in 6 or 7 had a reader.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by lestatar

I would think that this site itself would make for a decent barometer of the general state of the ereader market - I have only been here a short while but it seems that every day, a goodly number of new members join up, as evidenced by the large numbers of new Introduce Yourself posts. And before I left for HK, for sure over the last few years, my own on-the-street sightings of ereaders increased noticeably in NYC.

It might be interesting if the MR powers that be did some quick calculations and chart forum signups over the last few years.

Don't know about anyone else, but even though I only recently purchased my first dedicated ereader [K3], I have been reading digitally for years on other devices, going all the way back to Palm Vx and CLIE days [remember early PRC files anybody?]. Funny, my own purchases of physical books over the last few years have not seen any significant decline, but for sure, my purchase/acquisition of digital books has increased by quite a bit.

No idea when I will ever be able to make any kind of dent in my TBR queue though.

<note to self: get cracking on that immortality thing>

I, too, was reading digitally before purchasing my ebook reader, and I'm sure that others have done the same too. If anything, though, I feel like my physical book purchases have increased in the last few years (something that my husband is happy to complain about)!

If you manage to get that immortality up and running, give me a shout
We will probably find the answer in a book, come to think of it...

I, too, have the impression that membership on MR has increased exponentially since I have become a member here. I could be wrong, of course, but that is the impression that I have.

Originally Posted by bashfulbanshee

Heh. Maybe there should be a Vancouver get together. Have over a dozen people invade one coffee shop with e-readers, sit down, and just read in silence ;D It could be the most tame flash mob ever.

I love that idea

As to ebook reader sightings, I do see a fair bit here in Toronto. Mostly Kobo and Sony readers. I have yet to see a Nook, and I've only seen a couple of Kindles (I played with my first Kindle last night, in fact, and am really interested to see what K4 will bring). I don't see many iPads, surprisingly. Then again, I rarely take mine out of my house, but my Sony goes with me everywhere thanks to its small form factor; it fits into even my smallest purse.

I wouldn't say that ebook readers are popular yet, but they are getting there.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I ride the Toronto transit system and I have seen a couple dozen ebook readers---mostly Sony, the stray Kindle or Kobo. I think usage of ebook readers is growing fast.

In and around downtown Toronto, I see about equal numbers of Sony, Kindle (even saw a Kindle DX once) and Kobos. It's not frequent, but then I don't use the transit much (I walk everywhere and don't own a car). Some guy reading a Kobo the other day walking down the street practically plowed into me.

I've also spotted them in tiny towns, on planes, and I have seen Kobos and Kindles in Puerto Vallarta this year (not Sony, which is a surprise).

We're not at the "tipping point" but we are very, very close: these devices are moving mainstream and are becoming a natural addition to regular reader's collection.

US ebook sales were close to 8% of revenues for mainstream publishers in 2010 and appear to be on track for double that (perhaps more). And, perhaps more relevant, does anyone believe there is any turning back?

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by ficbot

they are so cheap now, many people can have more than one device.

I resemble that remark!