New data from Parks Associates (www.parksassociates.com) shows that smartphone and tablet app users regularly use nearly eight apps on their smartphone and nearly seven apps on their tablet.

The average user spends 3.3 hours per week using social networking apps on a smartphone, while gaming and music apps score 2.7 and 2.6 hours per week, respectively. Fourteen percent of smartphone users and 26% of tablet users do not regularly use an app.

"Although the number of smartphone users has greatly expanded since 2012, the average app use among smartphone users has held relatively constant," says Harry Wang, Director, Health & Mobile Product Research, Parks Associates. "This leaves an increasingly wide variety of apps competing for the finite attention span of the consumer."

Parks Associates' research shows smartphone penetration increased rapidly over the past few years. Smartphone ownership among U.S. broadband households with mobile phone service increased from 8% in 2005 to over 80% in 2014. Tablet adoption has increased by roughly 30% since 2012 to exceed 60% of U.S. broadband households.

Parks Associates' research shows:

° 70% of smartphone users and 56% of tablet users use social networking apps on a monthly basis.

° 19% of smartphone owners and 20% of tablet owners find a master health app that aggregates data from all health apps very appealing.