According to the results of the latest survey on eReader ownership in the U.S. conducted by GK MRI, their were nearly 6 million owners of electronic book reading devices in this country between March 1 and October 31, 2010.
Forty-nine percent of the respondents to the survey, taken between March and October, 2010, were male; fifty-one percent were female. The study included only owners of portable, wireless reading devices (e.g., Kindle, Nook, Kobi and Sony); and did not include owners of laptops, tablet PCs (e.g., iPads), smartphones (e.g., Androids) or PDAs. [GK MRI is taking a similar survey among owners of tablet PCs, the results of which are expected to be published later this spring.]
The total number of eReader owners estimated from the results of this study was 5.9 million, versus the 2.1 million estimated owners from a previous study taken by GK MRI during the period between March 1 and October 31, 2009: an increase of 3.8 million eReader owners — 181 percent — in one year!
This is just one reason why I am so optimistic about the future of eBook publishing in this country.
