In another sign that the industry is moving toward a hybrid market, fewer e-book buyers reported buying only digital titles this spring than a year ago. According to Book Industry Study Group's newest edition of Consumer Attitudes Toward E-Book Reading, the percentage of e-book consumers who exclusively or mostly purchase e-books fell from nearly 70% in August 2011 to 60% in May 2012. Over the same period, the percentage of survey respondents who have no preference for either e-book or print formats, or who buy some genres in e-book format and others in print, rose from 25% percent to 34%.

The study also tracks changes in device ownership, showing that Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet has overtaken Apple's iPad among e-book consumers. Ownership of the Kindle Fire has grown from 7% of respondents in December 2011 to 20% in May, while the iPad share has remained flat at 17%. Ownership of other tablets remains relatively low, with 5% of respondents owning a NOOK tablet and 8% another Android-based tablet...

View Full Article