Percentage of Kindle downloads on the rise, says PubTrack—but how much of this is seasonal?

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By David Rothman

“…In July, for the first time in PubTrack’s monthly survey of consumers, Kindle downloads topped computers, accounting for 45% of all e-book downloads in the month. Also enjoying a spike in July were downloads to the iPhone, likely due to the release of the new 3G iPhone and accompanying e-book apps.”

So reports Publishers Weekly, while also noting that just six percentage of the downloads—from Net-based stores?—were for Sony Readers. Will this change, over time, when new Sonys offer wireless download capabilities?

Many unanswered questions

A number of questions arise, as I see it. For example, how about the number and kinds of online retail outlets included in the survey? Also, how about public domain books from noncommercial sites such as Project Gutenberg? Or stores outside the United States, or focusing on non-English-reading shoppers?  And could one of the reported trends in July—just 40 percent of the downloaders reading on on desktops and laptops, compared to 48 percent at first quarter’s end—be seasonal? Maybe because students are on vacation, causing downloads to plunge?

The price issue

Of interest, too: “On the question of price, PubTrack found consumers paying an average price of $9.08 for e-books in the first six months of the year, compared to $11.70 for books in all formats (print and digital, new and used).”

PubTrack, by the way, is a unit of R.R. Bowker.

Related: Will converged devices take over from the Sony Reader and Kindle?, by Paul Biba, and Newsflash: Amazon is NOT dominating the e-book market OR winning the e-book war, by Ficbot.

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