Pew’s recent study reveals that there has been a tablet ownership spike at the end of 2011, especially in the USA. It was all caused by the holidays, a time of the year when everyone reminds Santa that they need a tablet to begin the new year with. About 10% of Americans owned e-readers and tablets in December, but that number went to 19% in January, so you do the math.
18% owned one device or the other during the holiday rush and 29% had an e-reader or tablet in January. Between May and December there was a stagnancy in ownership, according to the people in the know, but it all ended with the holiday season. Pew’s figures cover 3,000 respondents and don’t quite reflect the opinion of the majority, but at least give us an insight into the buying trends from last Xmas. This study was conducted over the phone and wasn’t meant specifically for web-savvy people.
Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet were the big winners during the holiday season, as they offered the public a choice of slates with a sub $250 price and all the required features from a modern slate. E-readers also had a price drop and they were more appealing than ever, reaching about $99 or even less… Apple also capitalized on the holiday craziness with huge sales of the iPad and iPhones. It actually appears that this passion for tablets made Windows revenues drop, as people preferred an iPad to the usual Windows notebook.
