One-Third of iPad Owners Don't Use Apps

The study, compiled by research firm Nielsen to find out how consumers used their notebooks, tablets, e-books and game gadgets, discovered that 32 percent of iPad owners it surveyed had never downloaded any extra application onto their tablet devices.

Of the 63 percent who had downloaded an app, 62 percent bought a game and 54 percent used their devices to buy and read e-books. Fifty percent of iPad users bought and listened to music with their tablet computers, and 32 percent watched movies, with the iPad audience increasing slightly to 33 percent to watching TV shows.

The study also compiled interesting information across different devices and demographics. Nielsen found that 25 percent of U.S. citizens own a smartphone, 8 percent own netbooks, 6 percent e-readers and 4 percent own tablet computers.

Tablets also tended to be shared more than other devices, with figures showing that 46 percent of tablet owners passed their devices around to others for sharing, compared with only 34 percent of smartphone owners and 33 percent of e-readers.

The study also showed that gender and age differences among the owners of different devices. iPad owners tend to be younger, with 63 percent of users under 35 years old, and nearly two-thirds are male. Owners of Amazon's Kindle e-book reader, by contrast, were found to be 52 percent male and only 47 percent are under 35.