Kindle Fire & Android gain, but Apple's iPad holds commanding 81% tablet share
Amazon's Kindle Fire ? and, to a lesser extent, Android tablets ? saw continued usage share growth after the holidays, according to a new report, but Apple's iPads remained the overwhelming tablet leader, with more than 80 percent of active users in the market.
The new figures representing North American tablet data come from ad network Chitika's research arm, Chitika Insights. Chitika found that all of Apple's iPads accounted for 81 percent of tablet web traffic in the United States and Canada in January of 2013.
A distant second to the iPad was Amazon's Kindle Fire at 7.78 percent, running Amazon's own forked version of Google's Android operating system. That is up 3.53 percent from the 4.25 percent share Chitika measured for the month of December, and more than double the 3.57 percent share for November.
The Kindle Fire was followed by Samsung's Android-based Galaxy tablets at 3.9 percent, up from 2.65 percent in December. Google's Nexus tablets rose from 1.06 percent in December to 1.7 percent of traffic in January, while Barnes & Noble's Nook held 1.1 percent of January traffic. No other manufacturer topped the one percent mark.
Despite the overwhelming lead in the tablet market, Chitika's newest figures do indicate an overall downward trend in Apple's tablet traffic share. A similar analysis in May of 2012 saw the iPad taking 95 percent of all tablet web traffic, and as recently as November the iPad had an 88 percent share. The trend in this most recent report could see the iPad dropping below 80 percent some time early in February.
A Chitika report in January saw iPad web traffic share dipping as low as 78.86 percent in the post-holiday period, though this most recent report's figures seem to indicate that that may have been due to new non-iPad tablet owners using their devices at a higher rate during the holiday.
A methodology report accompanying the new traffic figures points out that the post-Christmas (Dec. 25 trough 27) traffic share jump for Amazon's Kindle Fire was larger than expected, as well as that the drop in share for the iPad was larger than expected. The report points to the Kindle Fire's strong performance as possibly the most notable aspect of the figures.
The numbers came from an analysis of web traffic from Jan. 19 through 25, 2013. Chitika compared that data against historical data starting Dec. 21. Chitika draws its figures from the billions of advertisements it serves globally per month.
The new figures representing North American tablet data come from ad network Chitika's research arm, Chitika Insights. Chitika found that all of Apple's iPads accounted for 81 percent of tablet web traffic in the United States and Canada in January of 2013.
A distant second to the iPad was Amazon's Kindle Fire at 7.78 percent, running Amazon's own forked version of Google's Android operating system. That is up 3.53 percent from the 4.25 percent share Chitika measured for the month of December, and more than double the 3.57 percent share for November.
The Kindle Fire was followed by Samsung's Android-based Galaxy tablets at 3.9 percent, up from 2.65 percent in December. Google's Nexus tablets rose from 1.06 percent in December to 1.7 percent of traffic in January, while Barnes & Noble's Nook held 1.1 percent of January traffic. No other manufacturer topped the one percent mark.
Despite the overwhelming lead in the tablet market, Chitika's newest figures do indicate an overall downward trend in Apple's tablet traffic share. A similar analysis in May of 2012 saw the iPad taking 95 percent of all tablet web traffic, and as recently as November the iPad had an 88 percent share. The trend in this most recent report could see the iPad dropping below 80 percent some time early in February.
A Chitika report in January saw iPad web traffic share dipping as low as 78.86 percent in the post-holiday period, though this most recent report's figures seem to indicate that that may have been due to new non-iPad tablet owners using their devices at a higher rate during the holiday.
A methodology report accompanying the new traffic figures points out that the post-Christmas (Dec. 25 trough 27) traffic share jump for Amazon's Kindle Fire was larger than expected, as well as that the drop in share for the iPad was larger than expected. The report points to the Kindle Fire's strong performance as possibly the most notable aspect of the figures.
The numbers came from an analysis of web traffic from Jan. 19 through 25, 2013. Chitika compared that data against historical data starting Dec. 21. Chitika draws its figures from the billions of advertisements it serves globally per month.
Comments
And that's where Android's market share is higher (just like some of you say).
Imagine worldwide.
Isn't this study based on ad networks and web browsing? Maybe people are buying all these tablets to read Kindle books.
I can't imagine people spending multi-hundreds of dollars on a piece of electronics... to just have it sit in a drawer.
(actually I can)
Amazon's winning!
There are no apps for Android tablets. It is essentially a Galaxy Note on steroid. People gives gifts to kids to read books and play games. They want a better machine for themselves. If a person truly makes use of the tablet, a $100+ premium spread over a number of months is really not a price too high to pay. People paid $300 for an iPad 6-7 years ago too.
Anyone want to take a guess on when Apple's tablet share (usage) drops under 50%? I'll take April 2014. Under 25%? I'm taking May 2015. With the bulk of the market existing at the low priced end it is inevitable that the share will shift to Android based tablets at some point and follow the same trajectory as iPhone did in their loss.
The only thing that would stem share is a tablet from apple very close to the sub $200 price point and soon sub 150 price point on android. since Tim Cook said they have no intention or desire to play in that end of the market the conclusion for share leader is inevitable and it of course won't be apple. That said Apple does not care and is willing to accept this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by drblank
People may buy Android tablets, but they probably don't spend hardly any time using them.
I see people using Kindle Fires on the subway, but they almost never are watching a movie or listening to music. My bet is they have synched books over Wifi at home and use them primarily for reading. My bet is that the Fire really is being used no differently than the original e-ink Kindles.
Noone can argue that Apple has officially changed the game. When the iPad first came out, all the tech pundits called it a toy and an oversized iPod. When the iPad was an official hit, all the tech pundits said Android would soon take it down. When the Android tablets didn't take it down, and Apple's iPad sold 20 million in one quarter, they said WP8 will be the silver bullet. And now it's losing total internet traffic percentage. There's going to be one article after another that says the iPad is yesterdays news, and that the profit margin is falling, the growth is curbing.. it will never stop. I'd like to see an article that states the obvious - the incredibly daunting task of changing the computer industry has begun, and that 100% of future personal computers are taking a 180 degree turn thanks to the incredible success and vision of Apple's iPad.
As anti-Apple as the big retailers are it makes this report even more astonishing. People must actually fight their way in to buy an Apple product. First they must get past all the competitor displays. Than they have to get past the basement nerd sales drones going on about Android and Windows RT. Simply amazing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mvigod
Anyone want to take a guess on when Apple's tablet share (usage) drops under 50%? I'll take April 2014. Under 25%? I'm taking May 2015. With the bulk of the market existing at the low priced end it is inevitable that the share will shift to Android based tablets at some point and follow the same trajectory as iPhone did in their loss.
The only thing that would stem share is a tablet from apple very close to the sub $200 price point and soon sub 150 price point on android. since Tim Cook said they have no intention or desire to play in that end of the market the conclusion for share leader is inevitable and it of course won't be apple. That said Apple does not care and is willing to accept this.
What you are missing is that not everyone is equally price sensitive. There are literally hundreds of millions of people who can easily afford iPads. Many tens of millions have already bought at least one. For some people, many people, the difference between $200 and $400 literally is negligible. In any event, there is plenty of room in the market for those who want to spend the least even if it means purchasing a gimped device and for buyers who will pay much more for a full-featured and well-constructed tablet with a secure, and well-curated ecosystem of apps and accessories.
Originally Posted by mvigod
Anyone want to take a guess on when Apple's tablet share (usage) drops under 50%? I'll take April 2014. Under 25%? I'm taking May 2015.
Please, slapppy, go away. You have zero comprehension of the sheer volume of units that would need to be shipped (not sold; I'll give you an easy infinity to jump) for this to happen. It's physically impossible.
Kindle Fire people might be using the tablet for reading after that initial surge of web use, but if so, doesn't that even more strongly condemn the Fire as an attractive competitor to the iPad?
The overall downtrend for iPad doesn't concern me since, as others have noted, it is just slightly less dominant but in a much larger market.
Your comment made me think of something from another thread. What if the interest in the larger Android-based phones isn't because they are larger phones (at one point the anti-Apple camp said the iPhone was too big) but instead because it's the closet thing they can get to a tablet while still having apps that are designed for the resolution? If there were good Android-based tablets that competed well with the iPad would their customers instead buy a more reasonably sized phone and tablet instead of a huge phone sans tablet?
Your comment made me think of something from another thread. What if the interest in the larger Android-based phones isn't because they are larger phones (at one point the anti-Apple camp said the iPhone was too big) but instead because it's the closet thing they can get to a tablet while still having apps that are designed for the resolution? If there were good Android-based tablets that competed well with the iPad would their customers instead buy a more reasonably sized phone and tablet instead of a huge phone sans tablet?
Your comment made me think of something from another thread. What if the interest in the larger Android-based phones isn't because they are larger phones (at one point the anti-Apple camp said the iPhone was too big) but instead because it's the closet thing they can get to a tablet while still having apps that are designed for the resolution? If there were good Android-based tablets that competed well with the iPad would their customers instead buy a more reasonably sized phone and tablet instead of a huge phone sans tablet?
Your comment made me think of something from another thread. What if the interest in the larger Android-based phones isn't because they are larger phones (at one point the anti-Apple camp said the iPhone was too big) but instead because it's the closet thing they can get to a tablet while still having apps that are designed for the resolution? If there were good Android-based tablets that competed well with the iPad would their customers instead buy a more reasonably sized phone and tablet instead of a huge phone sans tablet?
Bear in mind that Chitika is not reporting overall web traffic.
They're only reporting their ad impressions. In other words, who sees their ads on the 250K web sites and blogs (Chitika is popular on those) that they serve.
That might, or might not, relate to other web traffic, especially globally.
Heck, someone reading this forum probably wouldn't show up in Chitika's stats, since this site appears to mostly use the Google ad network. (Correction welcome, mods.)
Still, it's no surprise that in Chitika's home area of North America, the iPad sees more of their ads. Even families with Android based readers often also have an iPad. And the cheaper Android tablets are often given to children, who use them for games, or video viewing, not web surfing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KDarling
Even families with Android based readers often also have an iPad.
True. The less expensive Android tablets for the young children and iPads for the parents. Kids don't surf the web, they play games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mvigod
Anyone want to take a guess on when Apple's tablet share (usage) drops under 50%? I'll take April 2014. Under 25%? I'm taking May 2015. With the bulk of the market existing at the low priced end it is inevitable that the share will shift to Android based tablets at some point and follow the same trajectory as iPhone did in their loss.
The only thing that would stem share is a tablet from apple very close to the sub $200 price point and soon sub 150 price point on android. since Tim Cook said they have no intention or desire to play in that end of the market the conclusion for share leader is inevitable and it of course won't be apple. That said Apple does not care and is willing to accept this.
Fandroids have been saying this for years. Oh no, Android tablets are so much cheaper, Apple is doomed. Yet consumers overwhelmingly still want iPads year after year.