According to an online report, Microsoft’s tablet web share usage has increased, primarily due to the Surface 2. While Apple still hold the majority of the tablet usage share, recently they have been losing ground to Android, and a little to Microsoft. These numbers only look at Microsoft tablets, and not Microsoft tablet PCs like the Pro line of Surface. Given the exclusion of their Pro line, Microsoft seems to be doing pretty good considering they only have the Surface and the Surface 2 in this race.
Calculating market share can be a difficult thing. A common route is to use web usage data to gauge how much certain tablets are being used instead of what tablets are being sold. This is an important distinction when it comes to the popularity of a product. While the iPad may see some stiff competition when it comes to sales, they have a very firm grip on the market when it comes to usage.
Usage statistics are more important to companies looking to develop apps targeting different devices or operating systems. Currently, Microsoft is sitting behind Apple, Amazon, Samsung, and Google in usage share, but they only have two devices which are being counted. The majority of Microsoft’s success in their Surface division seems to be coming from their Pro line which is not included in this measure because it is considered a full PC and not a tablet.
This attributes the majority of the increase of usage share to the Surface 2 and maybe a large volume of discounted original Surface tablets. Microsoft seems to be leaning away from the ARM based version of Windows for the time being, but has mentioned there is a change coming to how Windows will be on ARM tablets. A more consumer focused release of Windows 10 will show what Microsoft has in store for consumers on the OS side and maybe the ARM Surface side as well.
