It’s a survey of 2,176 Internet users by ComScore focused on Apple iPad and eReader Consumer Attitudes, Behaviors, and Purchase Intent. It’s sub-titled ‘iPad matches Amazon Kindle in Awareness and Purchase Intent’ which you have to think is a major win for the Kindle given that the iPad is supposed to wipe out eReaders from consumers’ minds, not match them in interest.
eReader Awareness seems to be really high
The figures really jump out at you -
- 65% of users were aware of the Kindle and 69% had researched it online – Wonder how that makes any sense at all. Were 4% clairvoyant and searching for eReaders without being aware of them?
- 6% have bought the Kindle and another 14% are seriously considering buying the Kindle in the next 3 months.
- 65% of users were aware of the iPad (35% weren’t? Would’ve thought even indigenous tribes in Polynesia would be aware of the iPad by now).
- 1% have already bought the iPad and 15% are seriously considering buying it in the next 3 months.
- 10% of users intend to buy the Nook (2% already own it) and 9% intend to buy the Sony Reader (4% already own it).
- 8% intend to buy the Samsung Papyrus – Which is quite amazing since Samsung is releasing the E6 in the US and not the Papyrus.
eReader awareness and intent to buy is so high it makes you wonder.
How reliable is this survey?
How on earth did ComScore manage to find a group of Internet users where 69% have researched the Kindle online and a grand total of 56% intend to buy one eReader or the other in the next 3 months?
Perhaps we’re misreading the figures and they mean a grand total of 15% of users intend to buy an eReader in the next 3 months and the order of likelihood is iPad, Kindle, Nook, Sony, and Samsung.
Minonline also adds a bit of caution -
To be sure, comScore’s numbers are a bit skewed in favor of the digitally aware. It seems unlikely that 6% of the general population owns a Kindle, for instance. Most market estimates of Kindle penetration are far south of 3 million units.
Perhaps the craziest bit of the Survey results is this -
Younger consumers indicated a high willingness to pay for news and magazines specially formatted for e-readers.
68 percent of 25-34 year olds and 59 percent of 35-44 year olds said they were willing to pay for this content, representing substantially higher percentages than people age 45 and older.
You mean to tell us that the people who actually read newspapers and buy print newspapers are less likely to pay for news on eReaders than the demographic that doesn’t really read newspapers (25-34).
In what parallel universe are 68% of 25-34 year olds willing to read news on eReaders, let alone pay for it?
iPad usage intentions – 37% would read books on an iPad
The questionnaire asks this question - If you owned an iPad, how likely would you be to use the following features?
This is a pretty flawed question because the survey should only be asking people who already own an iPad or intend to buy one. People who aren’t going to ever buy an iPad are of no relevance to the ‘reading books on the iPad’ topic.
If we put aside the flawed premise we get these results -
- 37% are likely to read books and 28% are unlikely to read books. The remaining 35% probably didn’t know what books were – You mean those things with scribblings in them.
- 34% were likely to read newspapers and magazines (and 30% were unlikely to).
- Internet usage and email got the highest responses with 50% of users intending to browse the Internet on their iPad and 48% using email.
If this survey is right people are willing to pay for content
We can always hope that 68% of 25 to 34 year olds really are willing to pay for news and magazines via eReaders. It’s not the only ‘so good it’s hard to believe’ news.
The survey says that 50% of iOwners (iPhone and iPod Touch owners) who also owned eReaders spent at least $60 on ebooks in the last 3 months -
Results also showed that iOwners exhibited very different characteristics and receptivity to the purchase and use of digital content than non-iOwners.
52 percent of iOwners said they were willing or very willing to pay for newspaper and magazine subscriptions specially formatted for e-readers, compared to just 22 percent of non-iOwners.
Similarly, 50 percent of iOwners who also own an e-reader said they had spent at least $60 on e-books in the past three months compared to only 24 percent of non-iOwners.
How widely do iPad surveys differ?
ChangeWave did a survey around 3 weeks back that had some results similar to the ComScore survey -
- 37% of potential iPad owners would read books on their iPad.
- 27% of people who bought eReaders in the last 3 months regret not waiting for the iPad (it’s similar given that the ComScore survey says 26.8% of people intending to buy an eReader in the next 3 months intend to buy an iPad).
It also had some drastically different results -
- 40% of people looking to buy an eReader wanted to get an iPad and only 28% wanted to get a Kindle.
- Only 1% wanted to get a Sony Reader.
- 68% wanted to use the iPad for surfing the Internet.
Two iPad vs eReader surveys and two drastically different sets of results. It probably means that asking 2,000 random people for their opinions and making predictions based on those isn’t the best idea.
Filed under: iSlate Apple Slate Tagged: | kindle vs ipad
