Apple’s iPad accounted for 88% of tablet Web traffic in mid-November per Chitika Insights based on tens of millions of tablet impressions from their Ad network in the US and Canada. Amazon’s Kindle Fire is in a distant second place with 3.6% of Ad impressions and the family of Samsung Galaxy tablets is third with a 2.4% market share. Note that the numbers in the chart are slightly different since they are compared to impressions per 100 iPads and not market shares.
Early 2013 will be a critical timeframe to watch since the holiday season units will be fired up (no pun intended). The new iPad and iPad Mini will need to sell a very high percentage of all tablets (and be used more) than all the others that are now being offered.
Source: Chitika Insights
It is interesting to compare the usage to units sold. IDC estimates that Apple’s iOS will have a 54% market share with Android a close second at 43% this year. It isn’t too surprising that iPads dominate Web traffic since Kindle's highest usage are to read books and publications and not surf the Internet.
Tablet Operating Systems, Market Share Forecast and CAGR 2012-2016
Tablet OS | 2012 Market Share |
2016 Market Share |
CAGR 2012 - 2016 (%) |
iOS | 53.8% |
49.7% |
20.9% |
Android | 42.7% |
39.7% |
21.0% |
Windows | 2.9% |
10.3% |
69.2% |
Other | 0.6% |
0.3% |
7.7% |
Grand Total | 100.0% |
100.0% |
23.3% |
Source: IDC