Forget e-Readers, People Read Books on Their iPhones
Reading books on digital devices is certainly the wave of the future. You might think that people read the majority of their digital books on purpose-built e-readers. You would be wrong. People read e-books mostly on their smartphones and more specifically, the iPhone and iOS-powered iPod touch.Wattpad–an e-book service–has released a report on e-book consumption that shows that smartphones hold the key position on the top of the e-book reading totem. Of course, since Wattpad uses online e-books instead of downloadable ones, the popularity of iOS devices is most likely under reported. After all, iOS has its own e-book store through iTunes.
Android OS powered smartphones have started to gain a significant amount of market share over the past but BlackBerrys have actually lost some (9%). It looks like the Research In Motion (RIM) ship keeps taking on water. Hopefully it will come to rest on a sandbar and float around until the company figures out how it wants to target the two separate markets that it pursues–the corporate and the consumer–and starts building smartphones that people really want.
But what does this news mean for the Kindle? After all, wasn’t the Kindle supposed to be the ebook reader? It looks like customers are just as happy to stick with a smartphone for their reading instead of shelling out more cash for a second electronic device. While smartphones certainly have small screens, recent models have very crisp text and sport very high resolutions. Of course, the iPad is still finding its niche in all of this, and will certainly end up holding a nice spot as time goes on.
What do you think of this report? Was it skewed too much by the company that compiled it? Do you use a smartphone to read books on, stick with the real, paper ones, or prefer to use a tablet/e-reader? I look forward to your opinions. To be honest, I haven’t finished a single book yet that I have started reading in digital format. I think that screens are still a little too hard on the eyes when many of us end up staring at a computer or our phones for most of the day.
Tags: eBook, ios, Apple iPhone, ereader
ps – my anecdotal experience shows more people reading readers or books (or even gasp! newspapers) on the train or bus (though not so many papers on the bus, probably because you get the free ones at the train station) than doing any reading on their phones. And most of those on their phones seem to be doing texting or emailing, as far as I can tell without actually looking over their shoulders.
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I don’t read books on my phone (though I got the app and tried it). The screen is too small and too bright – too much scrolling, too much eyestrain. I wouldn’t be without my Kindle – it’s perfect for reading on the bus, train, plane, or balcony.
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I am one of those who read books on their iphone, whilst it is not a substitute for a real book it is the convenience of always having a book to read when at a loose end. As far as I can see the disadvantage of the kindle and similar devices is that in poor visibility you require a light scource to read with, and it is yet another thing to carry with you, also when you have read a real book you can share it with your friends or even resell it , not so with the likes of kindle.
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