Now gender stereotypes are assigned to gadgets as well!.  New Nielsen data suggests that e-readers are more popular with women while guys prefer their tablets.

According to a new survey from Nielsen, 61 percent of all e-book reader owners in the United States are  female as of the second quarter of 2011, while male consumers accounted for 57 percent of the tablet owners in the U.S. in Q2 2011. Smartphones are used equally by women and men.

It’s still early in the growth of both tablets and e-readers, so there’s no telling if the skew will balance out over time. As time goes on and sales pick up, it’s likely we’ll see some more settling. But it’s still interesting to see these gender differences and what seems to be popular with each group, especially as e-readers have shifted to becoming more popular with women.

Does this imply or rather confirm that women enjoy book reading more, as research suggests, or do they just prefer a lighter device or perhaps a simpler, single-purpose gadget? And do guys just want more horsepower and complexity, or do they prefer more games?

However there is continuing battle between the E-Readers like Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook, along with an influx of other competitors (Aluratek, Velocity and Pandigital all make devices too)

Older Americans (ages 55 and over) also seem to be reaching a comfort zone with e-readers and tablets, with increases in ownership of both, as can be seen in the chart below

Again, it’s still early in the life cycle of both tablets and e-readers to judge their popularity based on age groups and genders. So we’re going to see a lot of shifts over time as more groups find utility in these products.