Pundits have generally been positive about the new
Microsoft Surface, but a new report from the ad network firm Chitika says the Apple iPad is still the king of the hill by a wide margin when it comes to
Internet traffic. The firm’s new study shows that 91% of media tablet web
traffic comes from iPad users, although it dropped more than three percentage
points from a similar study the firm conducted in May.
The data for the survey comes from impressions on the
Chitika ad network from June 4-10, 2012. Because the Apple totals were so large,
the firm compared other devices to 100 iPad impressions and found the Samsung
Galaxy was a distant second at 1.94% of the web traffic. The Barnes & Noble
Nook was fifth overall, accounting for 0.85% of the traffic, a performance that
allowed it to move ahead of the Amazon Kindle Fire.
However, Chitika predicts the share of web traffic will
continue to decline for Apple as more devices, such as the Surface, come to
market, just as it did in the smartphone market.
“The Apple iPhone started out as a highly
differentiated product, yet over time, its competitors such as Motorola and
Samsung using the Android OS have begun to eat away at their market share,” the
ad firm told The Mac Observer. “Even though (Apple) still remains dominant, the
disparity is not the same as it used to be and we believe the tablet market
will follow a similar trend.”
At the same time, the OnCampus Research study, Student Watch 2012: Student Attitudes
and Perceptions, reports that just 17% of the
students it has surveyed even own a dedicated e-reading device and that
62% say they have no plans to buy one any time soon.
