At the end of June, Amazon’s Kindle family of reading devices was used to read e-books by 55% of e-book buyers, according to figures compiled by Bowker Market Research.
Amazon’s share was up from 45% in the second quarter of 2010 and 48% in the second period of 2011, and the increase was aided by the release of the Kindle Fire. Since its introduction in late 2011, the Fire’s share of e-book reading has risen quickly and hit 18% in June. Some of its gains came at the expense of other Kindle devices, but the combination of dedicated e-readers and tablets gave Amazon its highest market share ever, topping the 49% the company had in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Through its iPad and iPhone devices, Apple had a 15% share of e-reading in June, up from 13% in June 2011 with the gain coming entirely from iPads as the use of e-book reading on iPhones fell by two percentage points in the year-to-year period. Barnes & Noble’s Nook devices had a 14% share in the second quarter, a figure that has held steady since the fourth quarter of 2011, but was down from a peak of 22% in the third quarter of 2010.
As the use of digital devices has steadily grown, far fewer e-book buyers are using computers to read e-books, with the percentage of e-book readers using computers falling to 6% in June 2012, down from 10% in June 2011.
| Device | Quarter 2 2011 | Quarter 3 2011 | Quarter 4 2011 | Quarter 1 2012 | Quarter 2 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop/Laptop PC Only | 10% | 10% | 5% | 6% | 6% |
| Sony Ebook Reader | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Kindle by Amazon | 48 | 47 | 44 | 39 | 37 |
| Kindle Fire | 0 | 0 | 9 | 16 | 18 |
| iPod/iPod Touch/MP3 Device | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Smart Phone | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| iPhone | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Nook/NookColor by B&N | 15 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 14 |
| iPad | 8 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 12 |
| Other Device | 7 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
Source: Bowker Mmarket Research