E-readers: It's a two-horse race

A ChangeWave survey finds Apple's iPad gaining fast on Amazon's Kindle

The e-reader market has become a two horse race between the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle and the Apple (AAPL) iPad, according to a ChangeWave survey of 2,812 American consumers released Tuesday.

Demand is strong, with 5% of respondents saying they are Very Likely to buy an e-Reader and 10% Somewhat Likely over the next 90 days.

But the race is going Apple's way.

"The Amazon Kindle (47%; down 15-pts) is hanging on to a rapidly diminishing lead over the Apple iPad (32%; up 16-pts) among current e-Reader owners," writes research director Paul Carton, who notes that the iPad's share of the overall market has doubled since August. Trailing far behind are the Sony (SNE) Reader (5%) and the Barnes & Noble (BKS) Nook (4%).

Among the iPad's advantages, according to the survey:

• Higher satisfaction ratings (75% very satisfied, vs. 54% for Kindle)
• Broader range of reading material (iPad owners are nearly five times more like to read newspapers and magazines, and 15 times more likely to read blogs and newsfeeds)
• Higher on the holiday wish list (42% most likely to buy an iPad vs. 33% for Kindle)

It's all laid out in the charts below the fold. The full report is available here.

See also:

• ChangeWave: Apple headed for "most explosive holiday season in its history"

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]