One third of iPad users have never downloaded an app

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11605682

by mortenjorck • 16 years ago

20 15 16 years ago

bbc.co.uk

Udo• 16 years ago

That's low. I would expect 10% of people use their iPads as table mats, another 10% never got the "damn thing to turn on" and the final 10% just bought one because all their rich friends had one, without ever using it.

slantyyz• 16 years ago

I would agree that the number is low too, but only for the reason that for a large segment of users, their iPad activity is centered on the browser.

andreshb• 16 years ago

Unlike the iPhone, you can comfortably do everything on the browser. Also, the apps they start you out with are enough for most common activities.

aaronblohowiak• 16 years ago

Kindle and a tuner (of the instrument variety) are the only two apps I use that aren't standard.

zach• 16 years ago

What?! Absolutely wrong. Look at Chart 6 in the survey they link to, which is even titled:

91% of iPad owners have downloaded an app, many of them have already purchased apps

I presume they meant to say 32% have never purchased an app, which is quite a different proposition.

mortenjorck• 16 years ago

Huh, you're right. Disappointing that the BBC didn't get that. Unfortunately, it looks like I can't edit the submission title anymore.

At least that bodes better for the app market, anyway.

jcromartie• 16 years ago

9% is still too high. Seems like a lot of wasted money.

jsz0• 16 years ago

There's a lot of basic functionality built into iOS these days so someone who buys an iPad just to browse the web, photos, e-mail, music, etc really doesn't need to download any additional apps.

ugh• 16 years ago

Why? The iPad has an awesome browser and is probably worth it for that alone for very many people. You don't need apps to use the iPad.

protomyth• 16 years ago

iBooks? It is an app and requires downloading.

fierarul• 16 years ago

I just use Safari and only downloaded two free games to test the AppStore but haven't opened them more than 5 times.

Even for mail and calendar I use the browser, although I could use the native apps.

The only 3rd party app I used for a while was VLC because I don't have the time to transcode videos. But even that is getting ignored now as the iPad is basically a nice browsing machine -- video works best on the laptop.

alexyoung• 16 years ago

I know the stats in the title are wrong, but console manufacturers have a tough time just getting people to get the machines online, let alone buying games through their stores.

Nintendo has a "Connection Ambassador" programme: "Nintendo [...] will give players 500 free Wii Points each when they help another person connect their Wii to the Internet"

grantheaslip• 16 years ago

I convinced my dad to get an iPad when our old family PC (which, last I heard, took about 15 minutes to start up) finally died.

He's downloaded one app: Google Earth. He was a Google Earth fanatic on the PC (he's an urban planner), so it was a no-brainier. Besides Google Earth, he uses the YouTube app, and occasionally uses Maps, but he spends the vast majority of his time in Safari. He reads the New York Times and Toronto Star, checks his Gmail, loads up recipes, and generally does the same things he did in Chrome on the old PC.

I've tried to convince him to check out some other apps, but he has almost no interest in doing so, and for what he does, why should he? Safari is a consistent interface, sites work the same as they do everywhere else, and he doesn't need to learn a bunch of different interfaces.

This is why I don't get why people seem to have this impression that Apple is somehow anti-web. The iPad is, for the average person who doesn't need to do very much data entry, the best browsing experience around. Hell, Apple has pioneered WebKit, which has near-single-handedly brought mobile browsing into the 21st century. They know how important the web (as in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) is, they just aren't putting all of their eggs in one basket.

mathewi• 16 years ago

Nielsen sent out the wrong numbers in its initial release. I wrote about it for GigaOM and updated the post with the real figures here: http://gigaom.com/2010/10/21/books-and-video-win-on-the-ipad...

twitter_v2• 16 years ago

You all have read this wrong! It says a survey of 5k consumers of multiple devices, which 32% of the questioned people who owned an iPad have never downloaded an app. That's 32% of the iPad owners questioned, not Apple's total units sold. Firstly we don't know what % of the 5k were iPad owners. It could have been 3 then only 1 out of 3 have never downloaded an app. Does not sound so bad now then? ;-)

One third of iPad users have never downloaded an app

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