Study: More than 1 in 10 adults own a tablet computer

{mosads}The study found that about half of users get news on their tablet every day, but most say they would not be willing to pay for news content. 

Tablet users are more likely than the public overall to turn to the Internet for news, and they also prefer reading the news to listening to or watching it.

Most tablet users would still rather use an Internet browser than an app to access news content. Only 21 percent of users say they rely mainly on apps to read the news. But those users who rely on apps are more likely to read longer articles and are more willing to pay for their news.

The political ideologies of tablets are similar to those of the general public, but the users who rely mainly on apps are more likely to identify as liberal. 

The breakdown of tablet users by age also roughly reflects the general population, although people older than 65 are less likely to own a tablet.

“When it comes to age, the tablet, unlike most new technologies, is not simply a device for the young,” Pew stated in the report.

Unsurprisingly, wealthier and better-educated Americans are more likely to own tablet computers. Apple’s iPad 2 starts at $499.

“It will be worth watching whether the new, lower-cost tablets like Amazon’s Kindle Fire draw more middle-income buyers into the tablet realm,” the study’s authors wrote.