Apple tablet sales may have been lower this past quarter than analysts expected, but usage of the tablet remains strong. According to a recent Chitika Insights report, the iPad accounted for more than three quarters of all U.S. and Canadian tablet-based Web traffic in April. Chitika derived this traffic data by sampling tens of millions U.S. and Canadian tablet online impressions across its ad network during the first week of April 2014.

chitika-tablet-2014-april
The iPad is the dominant tablet in North America with a mobile web traffic share of 77 percent as compared to 8.3 percent from number two Samsung. Amazon's Kindle Fire devices generated 6.3 percent of web traffic, while Google's Nexus tablets accounedt for 2.2 percent. The remaining tablets from Microsoft, Asus, Acer and others contributed 4.5 percent combined.

chitika-tablet-april-2014-2013
Though the iPad is the market leader with significantly more web traffic than all the other manufacturers combined, the tablet's traffic share fell slightly year over year from the 81.3 percent measured in April 2013. Samsung showed the biggest yearly gains, growing from 4.7 percent in April 2013 to 8.3 percent in April 2014. Amazon, similar to Apple, also lost 1.3 percentage points year over year.

The proverbial elephant in the room is iPad usage share, which still stands at over 77% of all U.S. and Canadian tablet-based Web traffic (Section 4). This is down a few percentage points year-over-year, but the current share is very notable in the context of the North American tablet market, which analyst estimates pointed to growing significantly throughout 2013 from a penetration standpoint. While it is uncertain if Apple can reverse the tide and grow its domestic tablet usage share in the coming months, it is clear that iPad users remain the most active aggregate tablet user base by a wide margin, with that likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future.

During Apple's Q2 2014 earnings conference call earlier this week, CEO Tim Cook commented on the slight drop in iPad sales this past quarter, citing high channel inventory levels that artificially inflated the company's March 2013 sales. Channel inventory in 2014 was significantly reduced, with a balance between iPad supply and demand achieved early in the launch cycle of the iPad Air and Retina iPad mini.

Apple is expected to introduce updated versions of the iPad Air and Retina iPad mini later this year. The company also may be developing a 12.9-inch iPad Pro that could possibly debut sometime next year.

Top Rated Comments

proline Avatar
130 months ago
Well, the 'Android is winning' crowd have been able to fake market share stats by including $50 child's play toys as 'tablets'. But year after year they've never been able to fake usage stats. They'll just ignore them I guess.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kdarling Avatar
130 months ago
Bear in mind that Chitika does NOT report overall web traffic. Or app usage. These reports are ads for their advertising network.

They're only reporting their ADVERTISEMENT impressions. In other words, who sees their hosted ads, on the 250,000 mostly North American web sites and blogs that they serve (less than 0.05% of the sites worldwide).

It's no surprise that in Chitika's home area of North America, the iPad sees more of their ads. Surveys show that US families with Android based eBook 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.

Of course, if a browser tends to reload pages as the user navigates back and forth in a website, then that will multiple the ad impressions quite a bit. Something else to think about.

--

Interestingly, when they leave out tablets, their reports say that PHONE web usage is the same between iOS and Android:

E.g. "While third-party and our own observations have pegged smartphone Web traffic share as a near-tie, Apple has a decided advantage in the tablet market, ..." - Chitika, 2012

This critical little fact has been left out of almost every fansite article that quoted that first report.

.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xmichaelp Avatar
130 months ago
Well, the 'Android is winning' crowd have been able to fake market share stats by including $50 child's play toys as 'tablets'. But year after year they've never been able to fake usage stats. They'll just ignore them I guess.

Exactly. Either all those "shipped" android tablets aren't actually selling or people are getting them and just throwing them in a drawer. Or maybe the droid users are so cheap they don't want to pay for internet. ;)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
blackcrayon Avatar
130 months ago
The fact remains that apple will need to entice us with older iPads to upgrade and it won't happen.

There is very little the "old" "new iPad" can do that the iPad air and the "newer" iPads can do.

They must differentiate.

I don't see it yet.

I bet when iOS 8 is announced, if it has some crazy new cool features but wont support the iPad 2, people will riot in the tech-forum streets... Apple "forcing you" to buy a new iPad, the usual stuff.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Born Again Avatar
130 months ago
The fact remains that apple will need to entice us with older iPads to upgrade and it won't happen.

There is very little the "old" "new iPad" can do that the iPad air and the "newer" iPads can do.

They must differentiate.

I don't see it yet.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
512ke Avatar
130 months ago
These numbers reveal the lie that is android tablet market share.

Please can someone blow down androids house of straw and reveal the manipulations?

There is no way people are buying millions of android tablets and not even using them to check email and browse web pages.

All these supposed millions of sales and what? The droidtab is sitting collecting dust at home ?

No way. That droidtab is still in the box in channel inventory while that iPad is being used constantly by a consumer.

Come on on Apple. There is only one way to deal with lying bullies. Punch them back.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...