More signs today that the pad may be overtaking paper as the preferred way readers get their literary fix. According to a survey by iSuppli, e-books will grow at an annual rate of more than 40 percent between 2010 and 2014. That’s a marked difference over printed books, which the survey predicts will fall five percent during the same timespan.
Traditional readers of print books may find the results “frightening,” says analyst Steve Mather. Total book revenue by U.S. publishers “will fall to $22.7 billion in 2014, down from $25 billion in 2010,” according to the survey.
Although the revenue figures include both e-books and paper book sales, the survey results echo previous signs of U.S. reading patterns. In February, U.S. publishers reported e-books outsold paperbacks and hardcovers. While e-book sales in February reached $90.3 million – a 202 percent increase over the same time last year – print books fell 24.8 percent, a $215.3 million drop since the start of 2011.
Mather sees the rise of e-books mirroring earlier introduction, then domination by other digital media, such as music and video. Although the iPad is often viewed as eventual beneficiary of the transition to e-books, the outcome remains uncertain. Although The iPad App Store is moving toward more reading-related applications (16,712 versus 13,861 for gaming), almost four out of 10 iPad owners say they don’t use the device for reading. Additionally, Apple has been reluctant to support the idea of a small iPad, potentially closer in form-factor to Amazon’s Kindle. (In January, Amazon reported selling more e-books than paper books.)
Perhaps Apple could still win the e-book war without adopting the traditional e-book reader hardware. The iPad has become a popular platform for Amazon’s Kindle reading software. At some point, whether e-reading is accomplished on a Kindle, a PC or an iPad, the hardware will be immaterial – like digital music and digital video – the move toward e-reading will continue.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
8 responses to “Study: E-readers Killing Paper Books Thanks to iPad”
Personally I think that the ipad needs major backlight improvements if they are a going to fit the Kindle etc. Many folks get ereaders to take on vacations and that means things like reading on the beach. Which you can not do with the ipad (or view video or really do anything in bright light)
When they conquer that issue they might have something
Certainly some people want to read on the beach. A kindle is a better solution for that.
What percentage of the literate population goes to the beach for vacation?
Of those that go to the beach what percentage want to read on the beach?
I find that normally for the lighting conditions that I read in at home, on airplanes in the office are best served by the backlit screen.
“Many folks get ereaders to take on vacations”
Really ? Or is that what you have gathered form watching TV commercials featuring people in vacation like settings using e-readers ….
No, it would be from the dozens of folks at the airports when I am flying for work (at least 3 times a month), on the beach when I go for my Sunday surfing etc
Not to mention when I am at work and everyone from the director down on the crew and every freaking cast member is trying to read off an ereader, ipad etc. When we are on location it is very often outside and those ipads are a pain in the ass to read off