Tablet and e-reader ownership doubles over holidays, Pew says

Tablet and e-reader ownership nearly doubled in the U.S. over the recent holiday period, according to three new surveys from the Pew Research Center.

Tablet and e-reader ownership nearly doubled in the U.S. over the recent holiday period, according to three new surveys from the Pew Research Center.

Pew said that the number of adults who owned tablets jumped from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January, while e-reader ownership jumped by the same amounts. Moreover, those Americans who owned at least one of the digital reading devices jumped from 18% to 29% over that period.

Pew found the results "striking" since there was little increase in ownership of such tablets and e-readers from the summer to the fall. They noted that the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire, the $249 Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet and other low-cost devices helped spur purchasing.

The Pew results came from a pre-holiday survey of 2,986 people aged 16 years and older conducted from Nov. 16-Dec. 21, which were compared with two surveys done in January, each with more than 1,000 adults over age 18 years. The margin of error was better than 2.4%.