Not too long ago we heard some evidence that eReaders – specifically Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color – were being snapped up by the world’s womenfolk. Women’s magazines on the Nook platform were seeing much higher subscription rates than on Apple’s iPad, and many were beginning to prioritise B&N’s ecosystem over iTunes.
Now, according to some official numbers from Nielsen, women are buying almost two thirds (61%) of all eReaders sold – that includes the Nook Color, and Amazon’s Kindle. This is a huge switch-around, as just nine months ago females accounted for only 46% of eReader customers.
Tablets remain primarily male-owned – 57% of all purchasers in the second quarter of 2011 were men according to Nielsen. Smartphones proved a dead heat, with both sexes purchasing the same amount in the three months up to August.
The research also looked at the age distribution of smartphone, tablet and eReader buyers. While the age of smartphone purchasers did not fluctuate a great deal, tablets and eReaders both gained considerable traction amongst older customers. In particular the top age bracket surveyed – 55 and over – accounted for 19% of tablet buyers (almost doubling from 10% in Q3 2010) and a massive 30% of eReader buyers in the last quarter.
As the early-adopter crowd are traditionally younger men this new diversity in both sex and age of purchasers should mean good things for eReader market and tablet market (or should that be iPad market?).
