Study: Two-Thirds of All Kindle Owners Over Age 40

Posted 05/01/2009 at 7:56am | by Paul Lilly

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We're not the least bit surprised that the lower-aged demographics would rather be immersed in a videogame than dive into a book, but who would have thought that more Kindles would find up in the hands of those who have been around for half a century or more?

You better believe it, says Stephen Peters, author of the Kindle Culture blog. Peters claims to have sifted through 1,387 responses in a 70-page Amazon.com forum thread discussing "Average Kindle Owners' Age," and the results are pretty surprising. According to Peters' data, the majority of Kindle owners are in their 50s (21.2 percent), with the next two largest demographics aged 40-49 (19.1 percent) and 60--69 (18.3 percent). The numbers drop off significantly after that, but still add up to 67 percent of all Kindle owners aged 40 and over.

There are obvious scientific flaws in relying on a forum thread alone to cultivate data, but it appears that at least when it comes to Amazon's Kindle, seniors are not shying away from technology, and in fact leading the charge. One reason for this, CNet points out, is that the Kindle is easier to handle than regular books for arthritis sufferers.

No matter what the reason, you might want to consider the Kindle the next time your siblings put their heads together to come up with the perfect 50th birthday gift idea.

Image Credit: Amazon