The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has released a study, according to which e-readers and tablets are set to become wildly popular and successful consumer devices. According to a survey of nearly 13,000 consumers in 14 countries, including China, India, Germany, the UK and the US, e-readers and tablets are not a niche product for early adopters but could become the MP3 players of this decade.
The survey states that by next year, 28 percent of all respondents - and 51 percent of those familiar with the devices - plan to purchase an e-reader or tablet. Within three years, 49 percent of all respondents - 73 percent of those familiar with the devices - plan a purchase. E-readers and tablets could therefore soon become established consumer products, alongside TVs, PCs, and mobile handsets such as the BlackBerry and iPhone. They could also inject fresh hope into the publishing industry, which is struggling to generate online revenues, says the report.
While electronic book readers (e-readers) have been around for several years, it gained critical mass only in late 2007, when Amazon introduced the Kindle. In March 2010, Apple launched the iPad tablet. Besides reading, the iPad tablet can perform many tasks, such as Web browsing, video viewing, photo sharing, and e-mail. The survey states that 66 percent of respondents globally would prefer to buy a multipurpose device, whereas only 24 percent prefer a single-function device, such as the Kindle. It further notes that mass acceptance of e-readers and tablets is not guaranteed unless prices drop dramatically. In the US, consumers are only willing to spend up to $200 for a multipurpose device. This is far below the $499 entry price of the iPad.
Consumers also expressed a strong desire for freedom of choice when purchasing content, rather than being locked into a single source, such as the iTunes store. More than 80 percent of consumers interested in purchasing an e-reader or tablet said they would buy more content if multiple retailers were available.
Content providers have been looking to e-readers and tablets as a potential new revenue source to compensate for the loss of business from traditional products. The survey notes that in the US, consumers are willing to pay $2 to $4 for a single issue of an online magazine, comparable to the cost of the print version, and $5 to $10 for a monthly online newspaper subscription. While this is less than the cost of a print subscription, the digital version is cheaper to produce.
The survey found that more than 90 percent of those interested in purchasing an e-reader over the next three years would use it for e-books, and over 80 percent would use it to read the online versions of magazines and newspapers.
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