Apple iPad Second To Amazon's Kindle For Most Popular Device For E-books

Apple's iPad came in second to Amazon's Kindle for the most popular device for reading e-books.

According to a new study from the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), most people who prefer to read e-books do so using an Amazon Kindle rather than Apple's iPad and other tablets.

Based on the findings, almost 40 percent of U.S. adults preferred reading e-books on a Kindle e-reader, while 27 percent prefer to use and own an iPad.

The group surveyed 1,048 adults in the U.S. aged 13 years and above in August 2013. The survey took into account the intent to purchase.

Survey data has shown that 8 percent of e-book readers want to buy an Apple's iPad while only 3 percent wish to buy Amazon's Kindle.

BISG said the disparity of the intent to purchase will increase when considering other tablet and e-reader brands.

A third of e-book readers plan to purchase a tablet compared to 5 per cent who wants to buy a Nook e-reader or Kindle. Both devices remain popular in the market for e-books.

The growth in usage and intent to purchase e-readers can both be a bane or boon in the book publishing industry.

If more consumers demand more tablets, more e-readers will be available in the market. Unlike e-readers, tablets can be used for other purposes and not limited to e-reading. Tablets can also be used for media consumption like online surfing.

In the same report, Apple's iPad remains the number 1 tablet in global market share. The BICG report also made use of figures acquired from the International Data Corporation. With Apple releasing the iPad Air, the iPad will continue to dominate in market share. One third of tablets around the world are mostly Apple's iPads.

Apple has recently released iPad Air, its newest version of the iPad. Since Apple had no pre-orders for the previous iPad generation, the company may not do the same with the iPad Air. However, reports said that Apple may take pre-orders Nov. 1 at 12 midnight PST.

The iPad Mini 2 with retina display sale date is not yet known but is believed to be on sale by November.