Amazon's Kindle Fire gains marketshare at expense of iPad over holidays, research shows

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A study of web usage over the holidays in North America saw Apple's iPad marketshare fall 7.14 percent, while competing devices from Amazon, Samsung and Google gained a total of 5.5 percent over the same period.

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Source: Chitika Insights


The numbers, from ad network Chitika's research arm Chitika Insights, were drawn from a sample size of hundreds of millions of smartphone and tablet ad impressions from Dec. 1 to Dec. 27, 2012. Data was measured across the U.S. and Canada only.

While Apple's iPad, including the iPad mini and older generations of the tablet, took a substantial 7.14 percent hit during the nearly month-long period, the device is still leading the space by a wide margin with 78.46 percent of all traffic.

Next in line is Amazon's Kindle Fire, a reasonably priced offering from the internet sales giant that accounted for 7.51 percent of Chitika's web impressions in December. The device enjoyed the largest holiday boost with a 3.03 percent increase in marketshare, echoing last year's strong holiday performance.

Coming in third was Samsung and its 7- and 10-inch Galaxy tablets, which managed to jump 1.38 percent to finish with 4.38 percent of the market. Google's Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 gained 0.92 percent to hit 2.04 percent of the total market, while Microsoft's Surface initiative continued to stagnate with a 0.17 percent increase to account for a 0.4 percent marketshare. The Surface is slowly catching up to RIM's defunct BlackBerry Playbook, which lost 0.02 percent to end the year with 0.68 percent.

Despite the uptick in rival tablets, Chitika expects the iPad to re-enter the 80 percent range as users return from holiday vacations, though warned that total marketshare will not reach pre-holiday levels.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 81
    1. US & Canada data only
    2. Let's talk margins
    3. Let's talk halo
  • Reply 2 of 81
    sector7gsector7g Posts: 156member
    i dont know why news like this is posted, im sure this goes up and down depending on who was using what on the days the sample was taken
  • Reply 3 of 81
    ifij775ifij775 Posts: 470member


    I think it's official, the Surface is a flop.

  • Reply 4 of 81
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    neillwd wrote: »
    1. US & Canada data only
    2. Let's talk margins
    3. Let's talk halo

    Even for just the US and Canadian markets that's lower than I would have expected for such a low cost device that is so popular on Amazon's rankings. I expected it somewhere between 10-15% for the holiday season.
  • Reply 5 of 81
    adrayvenadrayven Posts: 460member
    Not just that, but this ad firm is hardly a Google. I have to wonder about demographics, what sites (more Android based, or was Amazon.com itself counted, which can account for numbers.)

    I see these, and then the next day, someone posts a completely opposite statistic says something else entirely. To me they all seem to skew the numbers to influence public perception in hopes of pushing people down a specific direction (lemming theory)..
  • Reply 6 of 81
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    hey usage share is a good metric. Do they count only web browsing or are apps involved?
  • Reply 7 of 81
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member


    "while competing devices from Amazon, Samsung and Google gained a total of 5.5 percent over the same period."


     


    So pretty much every single competing device from every other company managed to gain a grand combined total of 5.5% share? 


     


    Wow, iPad better wrap it up, it had a good run. 

  • Reply 8 of 81


    90% of those internet hits were probably between Dec 25 and Dec 27. After the initial "trying all the Kindle features" wears off, people will use it just as an e-reader. Meanwhile, the iPad and iPad mini are used for so much more.

  • Reply 9 of 81

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ifij775 View Post


    I think it's official, the Surface is a flop.





    When the BB Playbook has higher numbers... yes, it's official. (both of them might as well be zero)

  • Reply 10 of 81
    rcfarcfa Posts: 1,124member
    Makes perfect sense, more choices always mean some newcomers or gift givers are persuaded by lower prices when things look superficially like they are more or less the same.
    So what's amazing is how little Apple lost in this context. Many of these Kindle users will eventually end up with an iPad. I see the same dynamic with smartphone users: iPhone users stick with the iPhone, while users of other devices keep buying one device after another, often resenting the iPhone for "religious" reasons, but when after the 5th to 10th phone they try they try an iPhone, they usually stick with it.
    Also remember: the market as a whole grows faster than Apple looses market share, so Apple will still post sales growth and retains good margins.
    Bad news on Apple sells these days, it's like everyone in the news wants to see a giant fall, just because that makes for good news; so selective reporting is under that angle a lot of the time.
  • Reply 11 of 81
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member


    The Surface RT is another ZUNE.

  • Reply 12 of 81
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    I don't think the problem is that the device is better. Perhaps it's a combination of price and iTunes service side not matching up to Amazon in some respects.

    iTunes has music hands down, but Amazon has books hands down (bigger range and lower prices), I guess it comes from their respective legacies. Don't know who has the biggest/best movie range, but there is no legacy to contend with there so Apple has no excuse to not be on top.
  • Reply 13 of 81
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Adrayven View Post



    Not just that, but this ad firm is hardly a Google. I have to wonder about demographics, what sites (more Android based, or was Amazon.com itself counted, which can account for numbers.)

    I see these, and then the next day, someone posts a completely opposite statistic says something else entirely. To me they all seem to skew the numbers to influence public perception in hopes of pushing people down a specific direction (lemming theory)..


    That's funny, Apple hasn't released any final numbers, so where are they getting info from?  Amazon?  That's only what sold through Amazon.




    Until Apple and the others release valid REAL AUTHENTIC numbers, then these numbers are meaningless.

  • Reply 14 of 81
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Sector7G View Post



    i dont know why news like this is posted, im sure this goes up and down depending on who was using what on the days the sample was taken


    Kindle Fire gained 3% for a total market share of 7.5% and Apple has 78%.  I'm sure Apple is scared.   hahahahahahaha.

  • Reply 15 of 81
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member


    This just represents internet traffic for US and Canada.......  78% for Apple?  Jeez.......

  • Reply 16 of 81
    rcfarcfa Posts: 1,124member
    ascii wrote: »
    I don't think the problem is that the device is better. Perhaps it's a combination of price and iTunes service side not matching up to Amazon in some respects.

    iTunes has music hands down, but Amazon has books hands down (bigger range and lower prices), I guess it comes from their respective legacies. Don't know who has the biggest/best movie range, but there is no legacy to contend with there so Apple has no excuse to not be on top.

    For one, nobody cares about devices, people care about the software. iOS *IS* better, because it's not a scaled up smart phone OS on the iPads, but has tablet specific features. This was shown quite well by Apple during the introduction of the iPad mini, when they showed how various apps and web sites display and operate on the iPad vs. some Android tablet.

    For two, even if Amazon has books down better than Apple (which I would dispute, since newer Kindles won't even be able to use epub documents, because Amazon tries to lock people into their proprietary format), there's a Kindle app for the iPad. So on the iPad you have the best of all worlds, you can choose between iBooks or the Kindle app, or use both; just as it's trivial to download music from Amazon and add it to your iTunes library.
    drblank wrote: »
    That's funny, Apple hasn't released any final numbers, so where are they getting info from?  Amazon?  That's only what sold through Amazon.

    Until Apple and the others release valid REAL AUTHENTIC numbers, then these numbers are meaningless.

    Amazon doesn't ever release any numbers at all, Apple only release the numbers they want to, e.g. not necessarily breaking down numbers by model, etc.
    Therefore all that can be done is analyze web traffic and see how traffic patterns work.

    Part of that is, that because competing devices have worse software (scaled up smart phone user interface, not a tablet specific interface, as was e.g. demonstrated by Apple during the release of the iPad mini), Apple dominates web traffic even more than it dominates market share.

    So if the software or the web site optimizations improve for competing devices, then the traffic for competing devices my increase stronger than their sales.
    Also, even if people realize they made a mistake and end up buying an iPad, they won't throw away their competing tablets, but hand them off to their kids or make gifts. Younger users use the internet more frequently, so even e.g. parents handing off their non iOS devices to some kids as gifts can result in an increase of web traffic of competing devices by shoving them into a younger user segment.

    Without very careful analysis, all such numbers follow the old addage: "there are lies, there are damned lies and there are statistics" or "don't believe any statistics, unless you forged them yourself."
  • Reply 17 of 81
    macrulezmacrulez Posts: 2,455member


    deleted

  • Reply 18 of 81
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member


    Playbook over iPad?


     


    That doesn't make any sense. 

  • Reply 19 of 81
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member
    drblank wrote: »
    This just represents internet traffic for US and Canada.......  78% for Apple?  Jeez.......

    Not internet traffic. It's based on the number of ad views.

    Basically it's a report intended to woo potential iPad advertisers to use their ad network.
  • Reply 20 of 81
    macinthe408macinthe408 Posts: 1,050member


    This news, coupled with the recently announced Do Not Disturb-Gate, surely spells the End of Apple (Version 353). 

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