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Survey: 4 pct of households own an iPad, a third are app-less

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Today, The Nielsen Company released a survey focusing on how Apple iPad owners use their new tablet. The results are largely predictable, but there are a few items of note.

iPad owners consume significantly more e-books, TV shows, movies, and magazines than iPhone users, but a bit less radio, news, and music. This is likely due to the size of the device. Music, news, and radio are items typically consumed on the go or in a vehicle, while books, TV, and movies are longer entertainment experiences suited to a larger device like the iPad. Users likely sit and consume material on the iPad.

62 percent of iPad owners have already downloaded a paid app–five percent more have downloaded free apps. This shows that a majority of consumers are understanding and using the device and its wide range of capabilities. Unfortunately, 32 percent of owners still haven’t downloaded an app, which is sad since they paid so much for a device they may not know how to use.

At 62 percent, games are the top selling app genre on the store, followed closely by e-books and music, which both hover between 50 and 55 percent.

nielsen-2010-ipad-tablet-usage-chart
Image used with permission by copyright holder

So what has Nielsen learned? Well, they estimate that four percent of U.S. households own a tablet computer and half of these people classify themselves as “early adopters.”  In addition, tablet owners tend to share the device more frequently than smartphones, e-readers, and netbooks. Perhaps this is because they already own an average of six devices, more than e-book or netbook owners. Oh, and 65 percent of the 5,000+ individuals surveyed were male.

Do you think it’s a bad sign that a third of iPad owners haven’t downloaded a single app?

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Jeffrey Van Camp
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