Tablets — especially iPads — were hot holiday gifts. A new survey finds that in about just one week, the percentage of U.S. consumers owning a tablet almost doubled to 19 percent, up from 10 percent prior to Christmas Day. That portion was even higher as you go up the income and education scale.
According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. tablet ownership rose from 10 percent just before Christmas to 19 percent in January. When researchers looked at incomes, they found of homes earning more that $75,000, that 19 percent shot up to 36 percent. The education level of consumers did not play as great a factor in U.S. tablet owners, however Pew discovered 31 percent of Americans with at least a college education own tablets.
The figures also found the percent of U.S. consumers that own either a tablet or an e-Reader jumped to 29 percent in January, up from 18 percent in December.
“These findings are striking because they come after a period from mid-2011 into the autumn in which there was not much change in the ownership of tablets and e-book readers,” Pew announced Monday. “However, as the holiday gift-giving season approached, the marketplace for both devices dramatically shifted.”
The surveys of 2,986 people were taken by Pew from Nov. 16 to Dec. 21, along with two surveys in January of more than 1,000 adults.
