About a third of all iPad owners have never downloaded an app for their device according to a study of 5000 users by research firm Nielsen.

It found that 32% of the iPad owners it quizzed had never downloaded any extra programs onto the device, and of those that had done so, 62% bought a game and 54% paid for an e-book.

That’s incredible if you think about it. Apps are usually the most quoted reason for adoption of tables and smartphones, and yet a third have never done so, and most that have, are using it primarily as a glorified Kindle which costs half the price!

So what is it which IS driving the adoption? Is it the look and feel, or is it a little bit of showing off – or is it the second stat which jumped out at me….

…. that almost half of iPad owners – 46% – share their tablet, compared to 34% of smartphone owners and 33% of e-reader users.

Wow that’s what you call collaboration! And a quick straw-poll of the only person in our team with an iPad also confirmed this – he shares his iPad with his wife and friends.

So is the tablet format more encouraging of sharing and will this collaboration only increase when widespread use of video conferencing is more common? Time will tell of course

Dominic Cook