New ways of reading: books Vs tablets

2 interesting studies were released this week:

Gartner has released the findings of a survey that says the time people spend reading on a digital screen is now almost equal to that spent reading printed paper text.

• Survey data show that younger age groups are happier to read on screen than older respondents, with the 40-54 years cohort least satisfied with their screen reading experience. In terms of gender, men typically reported screen reading easier than women, but both sexes said screen reading was generally the same or harder than reading printed text.
• Gartner analysts said the shift from paper to screen-based consumption is not a straight substitution of one medium for another. There is no single paradigm for screen reading, because reading a short piece of text on a mobile phone screen is a different proposition from the reading experience with an e-reader.
• The survey research indicated that around 40 percent of respondents had no experience of using e-readers, such the Amazon Kindle, Amazon Kindle DX and Barnes & Noble Nook, and this was even higher in India (75 percent), the UK (56 percent) and the US (57 percent).

 

Nielsen recently released also the findings of a survey that says the tablet is becoming the new primary computing and entertainment device, leaving behind the laptop, e-reader and MP3.

• About one-third of tablet owners who were surveyed indicated that they used their desktop PC less – or not at all – since getting a tablet. The same holds true for e-readers, netbooks,
  laptops and even portable music players.
• There are many reasons users cite for choosing the tablet over other devices. 
• The number one reason given is that is ‘easy to carry / take with you’.
• Other reasons cited include: light weight, convenience, fast speed, fast startup and shutdown, and size.
• As tablets become more powerful from a hardware perspective, and the tablet OS and culture evolve, the trend away from traditional PCs will probably continue, the survey findings reveal.

 

The Gartner report, ‘Survey Analysis: Consumer Digital Reading Preferences Reveal the Exaggerated Death of Paper’ is available on the company website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1651116.

Nielsen Study: see
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/227415/nielsen_study_table
ts_replacing_laptops_and_ereaders.html