19% of Americans Now Own a Tablet

The Christmas period is always one where technology sees a huge increase in sales, and the 2011 holidays were no exception. According to one report, in fact, the Christmas period has seen tablet ownership in the United Stated jump dramatically.

The report, compiled by Pew, shows that tablet ownership amongst US adults rose from 10% to 19% over the holidays, with e-readers also seeing a growth in ownership figures.

Pew’s figures also suggest that there is little overlap between the two…

With 3,000 respondents, it is fair to say that Pew’s numbers may not be overly accurate when extrapolated to a nation the size of the United States, but they make for interesting reading nonetheless. After a few months of modest growth between May and December of 2011, such a marked increase in ownership for both tablets and e-readers over the Christmas period is certainly worthy of note.

The numbers could possibly be inflated by the release of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, with its low $200 price point and its integration with Amazon’s online services proving popular amongst many this Christmas. Apple’s sales have reportedly been strong for the iPad, though we will find out shortly when the company releases its quarterly results. Tomorrow, in fact.

E-readers, for their part, no doubt saw an increase in ownership thanks to Amazon’s recently updated line of Kindles. At least one member of the iDB team – can you guess who? – received his first Kindle this year, and we’re sure he wasn’t alone.

Did you become one of the 19% this Christmas?