A new study from the Pew Research Center shows that ownership of tablets and e-readers jumped from 18% in December 2011 to 29% in January 2012. In addition, the percentage of adults who own a tablet almost doubled from 10% to 19% in the same time period, with the same happening for those who own just e-readers.

With all this in mind, are you a little green with envy? I know I am … just a little bit. When I start thinking about reading my book at Starbucks but on a device less than 3/8″, or of course, playing Angry Birds, I just get jealous of some of the people closest to me. My parents. They both got each other iPad2′s for Christmas, but forgot me.

So what’s the big deal about both these Pew statistics and my little anecdote of jealousy? The power of the tablet and e-reader is growing. Quickly. Is your brand ready for it? At a minimum, you should check your email marketing and website on a tablet or e-reader to make sure they display exactly as you’d want and have an appropriate message / call to action for their device’s capabilities.

Email Communications

1) Does your email display correctly in both landscape (horizontal) and portrait (vertical) modes? Look for inconsistencies with how it looks in other email clients, and see if it’s significant. In my experience, if it looks okay in Apple Mail on your Mac, then your it should be okay on an iPad/iPhone. No guarantees on a Nook or Android tablet though, so do your homework!

2) Can the user take the action you want them to? If you want them to schedule an appointment, does the page the user gets directed to work on a tablet or mobile phone? Does it error out, or just offer a really terrible user experience? If you hate using it, your customers do too.

Your Website

1) Does it work? If it doesn’t work at all, or large chunks of it are missing, you may have some work ahead of you to do. Components designed in Flash aren’t a safe bet, especially considering the penetration of the iPad in the overall tablet market. If your website was designed years ago or using a free / low-value service, it may still be compatible, but it may be time for it to be freshened up. And don’t forget, if you do choose to update your design/functionality, you can specifically target tablet and mobile phone users with specific layouts that are useful to your customers, and have them load automagically.

2) If I can navigate, can I complete all the actions? Do you have an online store or database of information? If so, can it be accessed on a tablet? Getting to your website may not do your user much good if they came to complete a specific task. It’s time to question your customers and users, and look at your Web analytics, to see if there are enough users to justify separate skins for applications, or maybe a stand-alone app that is installed directly on the tablet or e-reader.

Pew Study: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/E-readers-and-tablets.aspx