In its first 10 days, Apple ‘s iPad has captured almost as much online usage share as the BlackBerry or Google ‘s Android operating system, a Web metrics firm said this week.
According to data from Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based NetApplications.com, the iPad’s share has averaged 0.03 per cent since April 3, the day Apple started selling the media tablet . Although that number is puny compared to the major operating systems — Windows XP, for example, accounts for 64.5 per cent of the total market — it’s within striking distance of longer-available rivals.
Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, for example, had a usage share of 0.04 per cent for the month of March. Android, meanwhile, accounted for the same figure, split evenly between Android 1.5 and Android 1.6, NetApplications said.
By comparison, Windows Millennium, or Windows ME, the often-derided 2000 successor to Windows 98, was also at 0.04 per cent last month.
But the iPad can’t hold a candle to Apple’s older mobile siblings. By NetApplications’ count, Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch devices have a combined share of 0.6 per cent, about 20 times larger than the iPad’s.