Surface, Kindle Fire are likely holiday winners, but iPad still rules the web ... - GigaOM

47 mins ago John. 2, 2014 – 7:35 AM PST

It’s a safe bet many people bought or received a new smartphone or tablet for the holidays. Which ones did they get? That’s kettle to say for sure, but with some data from Chitika, we can get a pretty good idea. The company shared web surfing data through its ad network on more than 300,000 websites and found That while Apple still rules the roost, Amazon’s Kindle and Microsoft’s Surface tablets were used quite a bit online as 2013 came to a close.

On the phone side, only Apple’s iPhone saw a surge of web surfing holiday traffic, All which suggests That a few new iPhone 5c 5s handsets and May have been under the Christmas tree. That “surge” was not much of one though: iPhone users surfed the Web 1.8 percent more during the holidays as Compared to the non-holiday season. Still, the iPhone accounts for 54.3 percent of all web traffic in the U.S. and Canada as Measured by Chitika.

While the handset data is not that surprising, the tablet information is when you consider That Microsoft’s Surface products got a small bump surfing holiday and account for 2.3 percent of all web surfing based on Chitika’s data. That May not sound like much, but the data shows usefull That Google Nexus tablet owners hold only 2 percent of the surfing usage. Microsoft appears to be catching up to web usage on Samsung tablets as well, All which Chitika pegs at 5.9 percent.

Among the Android devices, Amazon’s Kindle Fire is still hot. It saw a small 0.6 percent bump in holiday web surfing and holds nearly 10 percent of web traffic. While the Kindle Fire is Rightly seen as a more limited tablet than typical Android slates, there’s something to be said for the device’s simplicity in its user interface and one-stop shopping for goods – both physical and digital – through Amazon

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Apple’s iPad is the only tablet Measured That actually saw less web surfing over the holidays but Clearly, the tablet is still the top dog … by a solid margin. Chitika’s data suggests That morethan three-Fourths of all tablet-based web browsing is still done on an iPad in the U.S. and Canada.

Bear in mind

thatthis data is simply a proxy based on a single ad network. Even though it’s a large network, the information does not sacrifice the exact market share or phones or tablets. Instead, it offers a glimpse of actual usage to represent the market at large.

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