In a recent study to understand how portable, multi-function devices or MFDs (iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android devices, etc) are changing consumer book reading habits. Consumers who utilised these devices expressed a tremendous affinity for them, struggling to come up with any significant shortcomings to reading ebooks on them. These consumers also revealed their specific preference for MFDs, usage occasions and their ebook purchasing habits.
Research firm iModerate Research Technologies and Brock Associates, a research and publishing consultancy, conducted a two-part study with over 300 MFD owners who have read an ebook in the past 6 months. A summary of the results were presented at Digital Book World 2011 in New York City.
The study found that the top three reasons MFD users prefer reading on their device as opposed to a hard copy book are the convenience it offers (80 percent), the ease of purchasing ebooks (61 percent) and the backlit screen (41 percent). Moreover, the three most common occasions for reading on MFDs are: while travelling (72 percent), while waiting for an appointment (72 percent) and while relaxing (70 percent).
The two-part study began with a purely qualitative research exercise where 30 respondents participated in live, online one-on-one interview sessions. Phase two utilised a hybrid market research approach where 60 one-on-one sessions were incorporated into an online survey which netted 304 completes. In both phases, respondents were men and women aged 18+, who own and use a multi-function electronic device and have read at least one ebook on this device in the past six months. Readers were defined as 'Heavy Readers' if they had read 6 or more books/ebooks in the last 6 months, 'Medium Readers' if they had read 3 to 5 books/ebooks in the last 6 months or as 'Light Readers' if they had read 1 or 2 books/ebooks in the last 6 months.
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