Pew Reports Ownership of Tablets and E-Readers Have Almost Doubled

So, like that new tablet you got from your annoying relative whom you put up with because they give you awesome holiday gifts?  Yeah, well so does everyone else, so don’t feel so special.  As it turns out, both tablet and e-reader ownership almost doubled from their previous levels of 10% to 19% in the short period of time between mid-December and early January, according to a survey done by the Pew Internet & Life Project.

Amazon and Barnes & Noble, makers of both tablets and e-readers, played no small role in this surge.  For their part, Amazon released the highly-anticipated Kindle Fire in late September.  The compact 7” tablet packs an IPS display, dual-core processor, and cloud storage and is a launch pad for buyers into the vast Amazon ecosystem of media downloads and streaming, apps, and more.  Perhaps most importantly, at just $200, the Kindle Fire significantly undercuts other popular tablets like the iPad by $300.  Amazon also refreshed its e-reader line and dropped the Kindle’s starting price to $79.  Barnes & Noble also had a strong showing.  Its competitor to the Fire, the $250 Nook Tablet, hit shelves early November 2011.  B&N was also nice enough to drop the price of its first color handheld outing, the hacker-friendly Nook Color, down to $200.

The holiday season is always a great time to buy, and with compelling tablet and e-reader options out there, it looks like consumers were ready to exercise some of their vaunted spending power.  Those of you who ended up with coal in your stockings might find some compelling options of your own in the coming months as companies that introduced new tablets at this year’s CES start shipping them out to stores.  Loaded up with Android and soon enough, Windows 8, we might add.  Just try not to be so naughty this year and maybe Santa will be nicer, hmm?

Via: The Verge

Source: Pew Internet