iPad numbers reflect changing reading habits

p>Apple announced earlier this week it has sold 17 million iPad tablets in the last three months. That’s a stunning number of units for a device that didn’t exist a few years ago.

In the tablet market Apple pretty much owns the category with 70 percent of tablet users using one of the Apple devices.

In many ways it is changing the way we consume media. Reading books, scanning websites and playing games — they all feel very natural on the book-sized device.

Creation of media is still a bit of a challenge on them. There are just some things for which you actually need a mouse and keyboard.

We are able to track what devices people use to access our newspaper sites. As you expect, the number of people using iPads has exploded as the popularity of them has gone up. Most people simply use our main site; others chose to use our mobile site, which delivers a more scaled-down version of the site.

The iPad accounts for more than 70,000 page views a month to NewsandSentinel.com while its “sister,” the iPhone, accounts for another 69,000 page views. Together the devices account for nearly 10 percent of the traffic to the site. A total of 206 different mobile devices accessed the site last month, accounting for 14 percent of the total visitor traffic.

The numbers help to graphically illustrate the changing ways people choose to read their newspaper.