Spurred by a strong holiday season, tablets have pushed their way to a strong presence in the US market.
Leading customer analysis firm the Pew Research Center reports that over the holiday season, tablet ownership in the country nearly doubled.
The group noted that right before Christmas, only 10% of adults in the US owned a tablet, but as of mid-January, that number now stands at 19%.
Unfortunately, Pew did not delve into which tablets were the most popular gifts over the Christmas period, but one would have to believe that Amazon’s accessible $200 Kindle Fire was a huge part of the equation.
According to numbers from other sources, the flagship Kindle tablet sold as many as 5 million units during the frenzied shopping time.
Of course, the iPad most likely won the race with more sales than that, but keep in mind the Kindle Fire was only released in the final month before Christmas and really only had a presence online.
The iPad, of course, is available in thousands of stores across the country.
Regardless of who sold the most units, though, it is really a win-win situation for everyone, since all tablets feed on digital content, something that Amazon and Apple thrive on. And while it is far less common to see Apple content used on a non-Apple tablet than it is to see someone without a Kindle buying a Kindle book, this explosion of tablet ownership is good for all players.
This year will be an interesting one; now that the Kindle Fire has made Android tablets much more recognizable, higher-end consumers are searching for something that offers more. The race is on to see which manufacturer that will be.
