iPad users prefer landscape mode, late-night browsing

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
A new analysis of iPad user data has revealed some interesting trends among Apple product owners, including the fact that the landscape orientation may be more popular than portrait.

Onswipe


In the first edition of its new monthly usage report, Onswipe revealed that, among the users it tracks, 59.8 percent prefer landscape mode, while the remaining 41.2 percent choose portrait. The data comes from 127 million users served over the last two years by its media publishing platform.

The iPad remains the dominant platform among tablet users tracked by Onswipe, accounting for 94.1 percent of traffic. Amazon's Kindle Fire comes in second with just 4.1 percent, while Android tablets are 1.8 percent.

Onswipe


The data also shows that tablet and iPhone users are most likely to be on their device at 10 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Traffic from mobile devices gradually grows throughout the day before peaking at 10.

iPad users also read far more website content than iPhone users, Onswipe found, with Apple's tablet accounting for 223 percent more page views per visit.

Onswipe


And while social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are popular, the data shows that iPad users still prefer e-mail as the top method of sharing. E-mail's 54.8 percent of sharing easily topped Facebook's 28.9 percent, Twitter's 13.3 percent, and Pinterest's 3 percent.

Search was also found to be a better generator of traffic than social media by Onswipe, accounting for 32 percent more engagement. In all, search made up 19 percent of traffic, while social was 14 percent.

Among traffic generated by social referrers, Facebook was again the clear leader, accounting for 45.3 percent of visitors. Twitter followed in second with 18 percent, while Pinterest links were third with 12 percent. Taking fourth was Reddit with 8.2 percent, and StumbleUpon came in fifth with 6 percent.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 53
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member
    This is relatively bad news for the platform in that it shows that most users would be using it for trivial almost recreational uses as opposed to using it for work. More important would be the trend however, so tracking it on a year to year basis would be far more informative than this one snapshot.
  • Reply 2 of 53
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    gazoobee wrote: »
    This is relatively bad news for the platform in that it shows that most users would be using it for trivial almost recreational uses as opposed to using it for work.

    Never mind that it shows 91 percent of tablet users not using Android, et. al. :rolleyes:
  • Reply 3 of 53
    gordiogordio Posts: 69member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post



    This is relatively bad news for the platform in that it shows that most users would be using it for trivial almost recreational uses as opposed to using it for work. More important would be the trend however, so tracking it on a year to year basis would be far more informative than this one snapshot.


     


    This is based on internet usage, not overall usage.  It doesn't say anything about work, productivity, or games.

  • Reply 4 of 53
    Seems to me the preference for landscape vs portrait would depend on the activity you're using it for and thus, having to choose one, you'd select based on the mode you most often use. It's only about a 20% difference and that means that portrait (which is not as pleasant on wider profile tablets) still gets used quite often. For this reason, I still think the iPad form factor is better than others.
  • Reply 4 of 53
    Duplicate
  • Reply 6 of 53
    bigmac2bigmac2 Posts: 639member
    What a news about nothing.

    I can't call a 41%/59% division a clear statements about a much more prefer way from another. Actually I found the portrait number (41%) quite high when considering some popular contents like videos are better viewed in landscape.
  • Reply 7 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheUnfetteredMind View Post



    Seems to me the preference for landscape vs portrait would depend on the activity you're using it for and thus, having to choose one, you'd select based on the mode you most often use. It's only about a 20% difference and that means that portrait (which is not as pleasant on wider profile tablets) still gets used quite often. For this reason, I still think the iPad form factor is better than others.




    This is just internet usage which wouldn't take into account some things (iBooks being more portrait and movies being more landscape)

  • Reply 8 of 53
    Is it really a surprise? I rarely if ever use portrait orientation, and have always wished Apple would put the dock connector so that accessories worked better in landscape
  • Reply 9 of 53
    Quite strange, 101% of iPad owners seem to be using either landscape or portrait mode...
  • Reply 10 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post



    This is relatively bad news for the platform in that it shows that most users would be using it for trivial almost recreational uses as opposed to using it for work. More important would be the trend however, so tracking it on a year to year basis would be far more informative than this one snapshot.


    I use my during the day as a laptop replacement. Creating, editing and sharing documents with iCloud.  None of this would be reflected in this survey, only the evening leisure use. The former would be very difficult to determine. However, the iPads deployment in the enterprise world, particularly the aerospace industry show that the platform is strong for both. 

  • Reply 11 of 53
    wisdomseedwisdomseed Posts: 141member
    That is one of the reasons I don't have a lot of magazine subscriptions. They tend to only work in portrait and most of the iPad cases really only support landscape. But portrait is preferred during those times when I am er, uh, um indisposed, shall we say.
  • Reply 12 of 53
    thedbathedba Posts: 762member


    So out of 101% of iPad users polled here, 59.8% prefer landscape while 41.2% prefer portrait?

     

  • Reply 13 of 53
    gustavgustav Posts: 827member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post



    This is relatively bad news for the platform in that it shows that most users would be using it for trivial almost recreational uses as opposed to using it for work. More important would be the trend however, so tracking it on a year to year basis would be far more informative than this one snapshot.


    Onswipe only collects web usage data. This study doesn't show work vs recreational use at all.

  • Reply 14 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by WisdomSeed View Post



    That is one of the reasons I don't have a lot of magazine subscriptions. They tend to only work in portrait and most of the iPad cases really only support landscape. But portrait is preferred during those times when I am er, uh, um indisposed, shall we say.


    I agree with you here. I have mine in an otterbox and love to read my magazines in portrait mode.  I want to get rid of the otter box but do not want to loose this functionality. 

  • Reply 15 of 53
    damn_its_hotdamn_its_hot Posts: 1,209member
    Seems to me the preference for landscape vs portrait would depend on the activity you're using it for and thus, having to choose one, you'd select based on the mode you most often use. It's only about a 20% difference and that means that portrait (which is not as pleasant on wider profile tablets) still gets used quite often. For this reason, I still think the iPad form factor is better than others.

    I agree 101%. I use mine both ways (with the cover) depending on the task. I also suspect this is why Apple designed the iPad cover the way they did - it works either portrait or landscape. I do realize they came out with a case later that is probably better at protecting the screen when that occasional slip happens and it lands on a corner (resulting in screen breakage.
  • Reply 16 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GreatBoo View Post



    Is it really a surprise? I rarely if ever use portrait orientation, and have always wished Apple would put the dock connector so that accessories worked better in landscape




    As somebody who uses it mainly in portrait mode it is a surprise to me

  • Reply 17 of 53
    titantigertitantiger Posts: 300member


    I use it both ways, it just depends on what app I'm using.  I prefer Facebook and Twitter in portrait mode, most web browsing in landscape.  I like Words with Friends in portrait but other games landscape.

  • Reply 18 of 53
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    greatboo wrote: »
    Is it really a surprise? I rarely if ever use portrait orientation, and have always wished Apple would put the dock connector so that accessories worked better in landscape

    Or accessory makers can make a dock that connects on the side for landscape mode.
  • Reply 19 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by GreatBoo View Post



    Is it really a surprise? I rarely if ever use portrait orientation, and have always wished Apple would put the dock connector so that accessories worked better in landscape


    +1


    even if it means 2 connectors - 

  • Reply 20 of 53

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheDBA View Post


    So out of 101% of iPad users polled here, 59.8% prefer landscape while 41.2% prefer portrait?

     



    well spotted

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