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eReader War: Kindle Slowly Ousted by the iPad

By | November 30, 2010 | 2 comments
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Jeff Bezos and the folks at Amazon redefined the e-books readers market back in 2007 when they introduced the Kindle, and since then, the device enjoyed an impressive track record when it comes to the number of units sold. Until the introduction of the iPad earlier this year, the Kindle had virtually no viable competitors, and was the undisputed king of the market.

But now that millions of iPad have been sold, things appear a lot less rosy for Amazon‘s eReader. In less than a year, Apple managed to “steal” a large portion of the eReader market thanks to the iPad, and is getting close to catching up with Amazon.

ChangeWave Research, a research firm based in Rockville, Maryland, released earlier today the results of a survey it conducted this month on 2,800 eReader owners. While 2 out of 3 eReader owners owned a Kindle back in February, Amazon‘s share of the market significantly decreased over the last 9 months, as only 1 out of 2 eReader owners polled in November said they actually own the device.

Meanwhile, the iPad’s share has grown dramatically, as the device managed to lure 1 out of 3 eReader owners in a very short amount of time.

These impressive numbers are partially explained by the fact that most eReader owners want to do more than just reading books with their device. Sure, the Kindle is an amazing device when it comes to reading e-Books, but the device’s limited functionality now seems to be hurting its growth. Overall, the survey shows that iPad owners are more satisfied with their device, thanks to its versatility.

The trend doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon, as the survey also shows that potential eReader buyers are more likely to buy an iPad when it is time for them to splurge.

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  • Mark

    My iPad has replaced my Kindle as my eReader of choice, but I still buy almost all my ebooks from Amazon and read them on the Kindle app. I prefer the Kindle app over the iBooks app because of better selection and prices as well as the ability to read the ebooks I’ve bought on many different devices. My wife has my old Kindle and if I buy a book on Amazon she can read it as well.

    Just because people are switching to the iPad doesn’t necessarily mean they are switching to iBooks. Amazon doesn’t care what reader you use, they just want you to buy the books from them. They probably take a loss on the Kindle hardware to get you to buy their ebooks.

  • http://www.tablazines.com Tablazines

    I agree with Mark. Even though Apple may be selling more HARDWARE… I use the Amazon Kindle app to make purchases from on my iPhone and now my iPad!