Eideard

Ads touting Apple’s iPad seem to be everywhere, but e-readers such as Amazon.com’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook are actually more popular with consumers, according to a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Last winter, tablets had a slight market lead. According to Pew, as of that time, 7% of U.S. adults owned a tablet computer (such as the iPad or Motorola Mobility’s Xoom), while only 6% owned an e-reader device.

But that picture soon changed drastically. By May, 12% of U.S. adults owned an e-reader, while tablet ownership expanded only to 8%. (Note: the margin of error on this survey is 2%, but that would not challenge the market lead of e-readers.)…

Who’s buying e-readers? According to Pew, Hispanics (who appear to be leading other U.S. ethnic demographics generally in embracing mobile technology), adults under age 65, college graduates, parents, and people in households earning less than $75,000 per year are especially likely to own e-readers…

Who’s buying tablets? Pew reports that from November 2010 to May, the largest increases in tablet ownership have been among men, Hispanics, people with at least some college education and household incomes of $30,000 or more. But the very highest increases in tablet ownership were seen among Hispanic adults and households earning at least $75,000 annually.

This is pretty unremarkable stuff, to me. Who cares? It’s like asking whether people are buying more onions or oranges. People are buying what they need is my guess, when they can afford it.

One of the most frequently recurring stories out there on supposed “tech” sites is the preposterous “E-book or tablet, which should you buy?” pieces. You buy the one you need. If you need both, you buy both. If you can’t afford one, you wait.

Amazon.com…now sells more eBooks than books printed on paper.

“Customers are now choosing Kindle books more often than print books,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, in a statement. “We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly — we’ve been selling print books for 15 years and Kindle books for less than four years…”

“This includes sales of hardcover and paperback books by Amazon where there is no Kindle edition,” the company said. “Free Kindle books are excluded and if included would make the number even higher.”

The success of eBooks isn’t limited to just Amazon and its Kindle. The entire industry is pushing more digital copies now, with eBook sales tripling over the last year.

Among the recent contributors to eBook sales for the Seattle-based retail giant is the newest, cheapest version of its Kindle — Kindle with Special Offers — which sells for $114 and has risen to be the company’s best selling eReader, Bezos said.

Unlike other Kindles, Kindle with Special Offers runs advertisements and digital coupons on the eReader’s display in a strip across the bottom of the home screen or as a screen saver when the device isn’t in use.

A few sources have published a breakout by category – but, most of those require a subscription. I did see a note that gave me a chuckle: the growth of e-readers surpasses print in every category Amazon sells – except books on religion. Got to get past that Gutenberg thing, folks.

Barnes & Noble customers are about to see a lot more of the Nook.

In September, the chain will begin an aggressive promotion of its Nook e-readers by building 1,000-square-foot boutiques in all of its stores, with sample Nooks, demonstration tables, video screens and employees who will give customers advice and operating instructions.

By devoting more floor space to promoting the Nook, Barnes & Noble is playing up what it calls a crucial advantage over Amazon in the e-reader war: its 720 bricks-and-mortar stores, where customers can test out the device before they commit to buying it.

“I think that’s everything,” William Lynch, chief executive of Barnes & Noble, said in an interview. “American consumers want to try and hold gadgets before they purchase them.”

Barnes & Noble has already installed small counters in its stores where customers can test out the Nook. The new display space would be much larger, and it would be located next to each store’s cafe, to encourage customers to stop by the Nook space, coffee or tea in hand. It would also sell more than 100 accessories for the Nook, like padded covers designed by Kate Spade and Jonathan Adler.

While in the store, Barnes & Noble customers can read entire e-books free, just as they can with print books.

My wife thought I was practicing walrus noises while sorting the headline for this post. How many ways can you use “nook-nook”.