A recent survey of college students conducted by the Ball State University's Institute for Mobile Media Research showed a small drop in tablet ownership.

"Tablets are for entertainment purposes, not for writing papers and doing class projects--key components of higher education," said Michael Hanley, a professor of advertising and director at Mobile Media Research who has conducted surveys on the use of mobile devices by students since 2004.

Ball State is classified as a high research activity university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

The survey revealed that 29% of college students said they owned a tablet in 2014, slightly fewer than the figure for 2012.

Hanley said the decline could be caused by a lingering perception that tablets are seen primarily as tools to entertain. Tablets aren't seen as tools for heavy writing or college projects due to its lack of a physical keyboard, and laptop and desktop type power, he noted.

He pointed out that students plan to buy tablets after they graduate from college. The tablets they buy will be used mainly to watch movies, play games and access social media sites. Hanley said that after graduation and getting a job, a student can afford to splurge on entertainment.

Hanley's findings belie claims by firms like Microsoft that tablets trigger productivity gains. Microsoft specifically noted that its Surface tablets are equipped with detachable keyboards and Office applications that enable productivity.

In March, Microsoft unveiled MSOffice for iPad providing MSWord, Excel and PowerPoint for Apple's App Store.

The most popular tablet for college students is the iPad with 14.2 percent owning one. Samsung's Galaxy tablets are the next most popular with 1.1 percent owning them. Other brands are owned by 13.6 percent of college students. The survey said 8.2% of respondents plan to buy a tablet in 2014.