Electronic book readers and tablet PCs, known to be niche products for technology geeks, are set to become mass-market devices in this decade, a survey by the Boston Consulting Group has said.

According to the online survey of nearly 13,000 consumers spanning 14 countries, including India and China, e-readers and tablet PCs could become established consumer products alongside televisions, personal computers and mobile phones such as the BlackBerry and the iPhone.

Within the next year, as many as 28 per cent of all respondents and 51 per cent of those familiar with these devices plan to purchase an electronic book-reader or a tablet PC, claims the survey.

E-readers, or electronic book readers, have been around for several years, but gained critical mass only in the late 2007 when Amazon introduced the Kindle, which has gone onto become an instant hit.

This March, the technology major Apple countered with the iPad tablet recently, which is able to perform many tasks besides reading, such as Web browsing, video viewing, photo-sharing, and e-mail.

Within three years, a whopping 49 per cent of all respondents and 73 per cent of those familiar with the devices plan a purchase, the survey revealed.

"The survey suggests that e-readers and tablets are not a niche product for early adopters but could become the MP3 players of this decade. Grandmothers will soon be carrying them around," BCG's media practice global leader John Rose said while releasing the survey findings.

Consumers clearly want to do more than just read with these devices as 66 per cent of the respondents globally would prefer to buy a multipurpose device, as against a minority 24 per cent who prefer a single-function device, said the survey, adding, however, acceptance of e-readers and tablets is not guaranteed unless prices drop dramatically.

Even in the US, consumers are ready to cough up only up to USD 200 for a multipurpose device, pointed out the survey.

It also offered a guarded piece of good news for content providers, as they have been looking to e-readers and tablets as a potential new revenue source to compensate for the loss of business from traditional products.

The BCG survey found more than 90 per cent of those interested in purchasing an e-reader over the next three years would use it for e-books, and over 80 per cent would use it to read online versions of magazines and newspapers.

The 14 countries where the survey was carried out online include Australia, Austria, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Britain, and the US.