• Pew, Thursday, April 5, 2012 12:16 PM

Thanks largely to the efforts of one company (its name rhymes with Glamazon), e-reading is officially big business. In fact, new research from Pew finds that about 21% of U.S. adults have read an e-book in the last year. “Overall, nearly 30 percent of those surveyed say they own a device,” The San Francisco Chronicle writes. “E-books received a notable bump from the holidays, when Nooks, Kindles and tablets were popular gifts.” 

Not blown away by the percentage of e-reading consumers, TechCrunch admits: “That number appears to be on the rise, though, going up by 3% just between December 2011 and February 2012. The percentage of those consumers who own tablets and those with Nooks or Kindles increased much faster -- nearly doubling from 10% in December to 19% as of mid-January -- suggesting that many who purchased an e-device have yet to read on it.

“And iPad is still the preferred tablet, though Kindle Fire’s market share grew hugely after the holidays: from 5% in mid-December to 14% in mid-January,” writes paidContent.

Read the whole story at Pew »