Tablet computers are well on their way to becoming standard household gadgets, according to a new survey from Pew.
Pew’s latest survey of U.S. consumers found that 19 per cent of American adults reported owning a tablet this month, up from just 10 per cent who reported owning one in December. Pew attributed part of this surge in tablet ownership to lower-priced tablets such as the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet that hit the market late in the year just in time for Christmas.
Pew also found that the demographics of tablet ownership are even between men and women, as 19 per cent of each reported owning a tablet this past month. Tablets do tend to be owned by more-educated users with higher incomes, however, as 36 per cent of consumers who make more than $75,000 a year reported owning a tablet while 31 per cent of college graduates surveyed reported owning a tablet. By contrast, just 16 per cent of consumers making between $30,000 and $50,000 a year reported owning a tablet while 15 per cent of users with just a high school degree reported owning a tablet.
Although Apple’s iPad has completely dominated the tablet market over the last two years, a new batch of low-cost tablets started hitting the market over the past month, led by Amazon’s popular Kindle Fire tablet that sells for $199 and that runs on Google’s Android operating system. Amazon has claimed that the Kindle Fire has been “the most successful product we’ve ever launched” and Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente estimated that
Amazon sold 5.5 million Kindle Fire units over the first quarter of its release. These numbers still pale in comparison to that iPad, however, which sold an estimated 13 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011.
