Increased Tablet App Dowloads Result in Lower Use

The more tablet apps consumers download, the less likely they are to use them regularly, according to Gfk MRI iPanel data released in September 2011. Among the iPanel respondents who own a tablet and have downloaded between one and nine apps on their device, 95% say they regularly use those apps.

In contrast, only 37% of owners who have 10 or more apps on their device regularly use this many apps, while only 16% who have 20 or more apps on their device regularly use this many.

8 in 10 Tablet Owners Discover Apps thru App Store

Nearly 80% of tablet owners found out about the apps they downloaded either by browsing or searching an app store or because the app was featured in an app store. This makes app stores far and away the most popular resource tablet owners have for discovering apps. The second-most-popular method, reviews in magazines and newspapers, is used by 55% of tablet owners, 31% less than the 80% using app stores.

Other popular ways tablet owners find out about apps are through a link within another app (24% of owners), ads on the internet (23% of owners) and recommendations from family and friends ( 21% of owners). Offline ads (TV, magazines, newspapers, radio) show to be a less effective means of informing tablet owners about apps.

2 in 3 Tablet Apps Free

According to the GfK MRI iPanel, 66% of the apps that tablet owners downloaded in the last 30 days were free, while 34% were paid.

Men More Likely to Own Tablets, Women More Likely to Own E-readers

Looking at the demographics of tablet and e-reader ownership, GfK MRI finds men are slightly more likely than women to own tablets, while women are much more likely than men to own e-readers. Three of men own a tablet, compared to roughly 2.5% of women. However, slightly more than 7% of women own an e-reader, compared to about 5.5% of men. Similar gender differences occur in ownership of iPads and Kindles.

Boomers, Gen Xers Outdo Millennials in Tablet/E-reader Ownership

Examining tablet and e-reader ownership by generation, GfK MRI finds these relatively new technologies defy stereotypes of younger consumers adopting first. About 4% of both Boomers (age 47-65) and Gen Xers (age 35-45) own e-readers, compared to about 2.5% of Millennials (age 17-34).

In addition, a little less than 4% of Gen Xers and 3% of Boomers own tablets. Millennial ownership of tablets is about the same as Boomer ownership.

Pew: E-reader Growth Outpaces Tablets

The share of adults in the US who own an e-book reader doubled to 12% in May 2011 from 6% in November 2010, according to data from the Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project. This is the first time since the Pew Internet Project began measuring e-reader use in April 2009 that ownership of this device has reached double digits among US adults.

Meanwhile, Pew data shows 8% of US adults owned a tablet computer in May 2011. This is roughly the same percentage of adults who reported owning this kind of device in January 2011 (7%), and represents 60% growth in ownership since November 2010

About the Data: The online GfK MRI iPanel is composed exclusively of adult tblet and e-reader owners. More than 3,000 consumers participated in this iPanel survey.