Microsoft’s Surface just a blip with 0.13 percent of tablet traffic

Apparently, more of Microsoft’s Surface tablets are showing up in commercials and television episode placements than online. Despite an aggressive push, the Windows device accounted for just 0.13 percent of advertising served to tablets during November, according to one mobile advertising network. The dismal numbers are just the latest sign the much-heralded Surface just isn’t selling.

Microsoft’s outspoken boss Steve Ballmer acknowledged as much when he recently called Surface numbers “modest”. By comparison, 0.91 percent of Google’s Nexus tablets displayed ads between November 12 and November 18. The percentages come just a day after a report that the iPad mini saw ad impressions climb 28 percent daily during the November…

After sifting through more than ten million mobile ad impressions, Chitika announced the Surface accounted for a fraction of the tablets accepting advertising in the U.S. and Canada.

Microsoft in November reportedly chopped in half orders to Surface suppliers, according to the somewhat reliable DigiTimes. Earlier this month, Boston-based  broker Detwiler Fenton projected Microsoft will sell fewer than a million Surface tablets during the all-important fourth quarter.

By comparison, Apple sold 4.7 million iPads per month during the previous quarter, according to BGR.

Microsoft has touted the Surface as a rival to Apple’s tablet. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is glad that the Windows maker entered the tablet space with its own hardware.

CEO Tim Cook, on the other hand, has his doubts about the Other tablet category.

He commented in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek on the Surface and Galaxy tablets:

What I see, for me, is that some of these are confusing, multiple OSs with multiple UIs. They steer away from simplicity. We think the customer wants all the clutter removed. We want the customer to be at the center of everything. I think when you start toggling back and forth between OSs and UIs, etc.

However, whatever competition Microsoft might offer has so far been weak. The same is true for other tablet vendors.

We learned Monday that ad impressions on the iPad mini beat those on Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Earlier this year, Chitika announced the iPad still has the majority of tablet ad impressions.

What happened to the Surface, following several glowing reviews?