iBooks "more popular than Facebook and Twitter"

17.09.10 - Graeme Neill - The Bookseller

The iBooks application on the Apple iPad is one of the most popular apps on the device, exceeding popular social networking apps for Facebook or Twitter.
Despite a plethora of reports highlighting the tablet's ability to play high-definition videos, browse the internet or store photos, those who buy the device also want to read books on it.

According to research and consulting organisation YouGov's TabletTracker report, exclusively seen by The Bookseller, 78% of iPad owners with wi-fi and 3G contracts have downloaded the iBooks app. This is more popular than the app for social networking sites Facebook (52% of wi-fi/3G owners have downloaded) and Twitter (34%).

Despite the presence of other reading apps on the iPad such as Amazon's Kindle or Stanza, those who have downloaded iBooks use it frequently. The report found around half of users are using iBooks at least three times a week. Almost a quarter of wi-fi/3G owners are using it daily.

Only games outperform e-books as the most popular content downloaded onto the iPad. Sixty-one percent of users of the wi-fi/3G device have used it to download an e-book, the same amount as have downloaded games. However, owners of the wi-fi enabled device downloaded more games than e-books; 62% compared to 50%.

YouGov interviewed 3,317 respondents online, 703 of whom were iPad owners, between 28th July and 2nd August 2010.