Despite stereotypes, almost half of iPad owners also have a Kindle at the same time, JPMorgan found in a new study. About 40 percent have Amazon’s e-reader, and another 23 percent still plan to buy one in the next year. Only 23 percent have no plans, and 14 percent didn’t know what a Kindle was.
Why is the fact that about half of iPad owners also have a Kindle a big deal? Early adopters buy early. Early technology adopters buy the latest shiny piece of tech. That’s what they do! (The challenge is getting normal people interested, people who need a reason other than shiny and new to open their wallets.)
What’s intriguing to me is that a quarter of the folks who bought an iPad first say that they now plan to add a Kindle. Now that’s interesting. It suggests a growing comfort with reading books, magazines and newspapers published in digital ink. It also adds credence to the assertion that the iPad is simply too heavy to serve primarily as an e-reader.
