50% of Americans Now Own a Tablet or eReader: So Why Aren't Print Books Obsolete?

Let us put aside, for the nonce, the highly debatable question as to whether America is becoming a more literate society. 

Book reading is up 5 percent in the land of the free and the home of the brave. And though Pew reports the number of people who own a tablet or eReader has increased dramatically to 50 percent of the population (that's a 32 percent increase in two years), the number of people who read a print book increased as well. What's going on here?

The data suggest that the same people who are buying eReaders are also buying print books. There is some evidence to suggest that the eReader and tablet are a tool being used for specific purposes. For instance, when traveling, books can be heavy and cumbersome, especially for an aging population, the portable electronics may serve a specific function. It may also be that people are using the portables more for news and information. And it may well be that people who like to read, appreciate the look and feel of a print book.

Consumers may be executing a convergence strategy of their very own. While this calls into question the longevity of the tablet/eReader genre since the numbers of people willing to pay for and then lug around multiple devices is limited, it also suggests that we remain in a period of rapid technological change. Nothing we are seeing - or have seen for the last three years since tablets appeared - may be indicative of what will happen in the future. JL

Seth Fiegerman reports in Mashable:

For all the talk about print books being replaced by digital books, the vast majority of readers in the U.S. still consume books the old-fashioned way.
Some 28% of Americans read at least one e-book in 2013 up from 23% the year earlier, according to a new survey of more than 1,000 adults from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project. But the percentage of people who read print books increased as well: 69% said they read at least one print book, up from 65% the year before.

What's more, nearly all of those who read e-books also read physical books. Only 5% of Americans who read an e-book last year said they didn't read a single physical book, and only 4% reported being "e-book only," meaning they didn't read print books or listen to audiobooks.
By comparison, 2% of U.S. readers claimed to be "e-book only" in a 2011 Pew survey. While there have been some notable shifts in reading habits, most Americans still don't seem to be able to give up on print books.
"Though e-books are rising in popularity, print remains the foundation of Americans’ reading habits," the researchers wrote in the report.

This may change as Americans continue to adopt devices that support e-books. Half of Americans now own either an e-reader or a tablet, up from 46% a year earlier, according to Pew, and the data suggest that this will only continue to grow.
Most e-book reading still happens on e-readers, but Pew found that a growing percentage of readers are turning to tablets and even cellphones. The latter two may prove to be the future of the digital book market as these devices become more and more common among U.S. consumers.