Tablet Adoption and the Reading of Physical Books

A Computerworld headline on July 3rd proclaimed Tablet Adoption Lowers Reading of Physical Books, Newspapers, Survey Shows. A Gartner press release on this survey of 510 "early adopters" of tablet technology found that purchasers primarily used their tablets for email, news, weather forecasts, social networking, and gaming.

The press release provides information about the reading habits of the 510 tablet owners who were sampled, but does not clearly indicate whether print reading declined over time with the acquisition of a tablet. According to Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner,

The survey found that more than 50 per cent of media tablet owners prefer to read news, magazines and books on screen, rather than on paper. On average, one in three respondents used their media tablets to read a book, compared with 13 per cent for mobile PCs, and 7 per cent for mobile phones.

-DD