A Couple of New Surveys no comments
There are a couple of new surveys that are interesting.
First, The Harris Poll of a little less than 3,000 adults taken in August, 2010 found that one in ten Americans uses an electronic reading device of some sort.
The poll also found that ereader users read more and buy more books. No surprise there. Of the adults surveyed, 10 percent of those who do not currently have an ereader are likely to get one in the next six months. Gen Xers (ages 34-45) are most likely to have plans to purchase an ereader in the next six months.
Next we have the Revolutions 2010 Survey by Deloitte. This was a survey of almost 2,000 consumers between the ages of 14 and 75 years of age, and was conducted in July, 2010.
One of the interesting findings of this survey is that many consumers are using apps on devices such as smartphones and tablets to replace dedicated electronic devices. For example, 42 percent of app users have reduced or eliminated their use of MP3 players and are instead using apps on their other devices.
Similarly affected gadgets include things like AM/FM radios, handheld video games and stand-alone GPS devices. A significant number of consumers are using apps on their multifunctional devices rather than using a dedicated device. Even laptops and netbooks are affected.
In spite of all of this, the survey also found that apps do not typically play an important role in consumers’ purchasing decisions when choosing a smartphone.
My take would be that apps are more convenient, greener and usually more economical to use if you are a light to moderate user of a particular function. For example, if you only have a few hundred MP3 tracks your phone might be the best and easiest playback solution. If you have 10,000 tracks then a dedicated device is probably better.
This survey also had some ebook related results. It found that 10 percent of consumers in the US have purchased an ebook. Of this group 56 percent are reading more digital books and 61 percent are purchasing more books in digital format than they previously did in paper.
