Year in Review 2010: Mobile content expands from smartphones to tablets and ereaders

Galvanized by the introduction of Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) blockbuster iPad and the growing popularity of ereader devices like Amazon's Kindle, mobile media evolved beyond handsets to larger form-factor units throughout 2010. The iPad was this year's signature hardware debut: With its 9.7-inch, full-color touchscreen display, advanced processing power, motion-sensitive controls and 3G wireless broadband connectivity, the iPad delivered a bigger and bolder user experience than Apple's game-changing iPhone, ushering in a host of mobile video services, games and productivity tools virtually unthinkable on conventional connected devices. Gaming dominates iPad user interaction: According to The Nielsen Company, 91 percent of all iPad owners have downloaded applications to the device, with 62 percent purchasing premium games, more than any other iPad paid app category. And underlining the iPad's superior user experience, mobile advertising exchange Mobclix reports that gaming sessions on the iPad typically run three times longer than the same title on iPhone. A wave of copycat tablets is in the pipeline, but for now, the iPad remains the gold standard.

Online retail giant Amazon.com first introduced its Kindle ebook platform in 2007--three years later, the ereader device is its bestselling, most gifted and most-wished-for product. The Kindle Store offers millions of digital titles, including new releases and the vast majority of current New York Times bestsellers, most priced at $9.99 or less; this summer, Amazon said it now sells 143 Kindle ebooks for every 100 hardcover books. After the release of two new Kindle devices (one with built-in 3G support priced at $189, the other sans 3G at $139), Amazon reported that more new-gen Kindles were ordered in the first twelve weeks of availability than in the same timeframe following any other Kindle launch. Moreover, during that same period consumers ordered more Kindles than any other Amazon product.

Rival booksellers Barnes & Noble and Borders offer their own ereader platforms (Nook and Kobo, respectively), but as 2010 winds down, the segment looks like a two-horse race: A recent survey conducted by research network ChangeWave states that Kindle currently accounts for 47 percent of the ereader market, down from 62 percent in August 2010--the iPad grew from 16 percent in August to 32 percent in November, essentially leaving the Sony Reader (5 percent) and the Nook (4 percent) in the dust. In regards to user satisfaction, iPad has already overtaken Kindle: 75 percent of iPad owners tell ChangeWave they are "very satisfied" with their purchase, compared to 54 percent of Kindle owners. Consumer behaviors also differ between platforms: 93 percent of Kindle owners read books on their device, in relation to 76 percent of iPad owners, but the latter demographic is almost five times more likely to read newspapers and magazines than their Kindle counterparts.

Look for the ereader market to continue evolving in 2011: Earlier this month, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) officially launched the long-awaited Google eBooks, a multi-platform digital effort boasting more than 3 million titles in all, optimized for download via the web, connected devices running the Android and iOS mobile operating systems, and Sony Electronics and Barnes & Noble devices. Google eBooks challenges the existing digital bookseller model by offering an open, "read anywhere" approach enabling consumers to purchase titles directly from Google or its online retail partners (including independent bookstores) and add them to an online library connected to a Google account. Time will tell whether Google can extend its digital empire to ereaders as well.