Chitika: iPad recovers from post-Christmas dip, now back to 81% share

Chitika (tablets, 201301, chart 002)

Apple’s iPad appears to have recovered from its post-Christmas slump. The tablet now enjoys an 81 percent share after falling from a high of 89 percent to 79 percent between December 25-27, 2012. Online advertising network Chitika Tuesday released the chart for the U.S. and Canada which proves the iPad recovered some of the ground lost to cheaper tablets.

The latest data obtained from millions of devices participating in Chitika’s ad network shows Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet having the second-highest January 2013 market share. Although a distant runner-up to the iPad, the Amazon tablet scored a 7.7 percent tablet share, while Samsung’s family of Galaxy tablets reached 3.9 percent…

The new data release accompanied a defense of ad firm’s forecast for the two days following Christmas. During the period between December 2012 and January 2013, iPad usage dipped while Kindle use about doubled.

Here’s that December chart, for comparison’s sake.

Chitika (post-Christmas 2012 tablets)
The 2012 holiday findings Chitika is now kinda distancing itself from.

The updated chart “puts Chitika’s dip into better perspective and suggests that the iPad’s market share has, to some extent, bounced back from its post-Christmas lows,” writes Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt.

Despite signs of recovery, Apple must combat slowing market share growth of the iPad as Amazon increases its standing. During the same period the iPad slid from 89 percent to 80 percent of the market, ad impressions on the Kindle Fire rose.

The Amazon tablet saw ad impressions in January reach 9.48 per 100 iPad impressions, up from 4.88 impressions in January, according to Chitika.

Here are Chitika’s old post-Christmas numbers.

Chitika (tablets, 201301, chart 003)
Notice Apple’s -17.4 percent post-Christmas dip. Chitika now says the iPad in January 2013 recovered most of its lost share.

As we reported in November 2012, ahead of the iPad’s December slowdown, research firm IDC noted that some potential iPad buyers sat out the period waiting for the iPad mini’s release. As a result, Android tablets gained some of that idle purchasing power.

While IDC focused on Samsung as the main beneficiary of the iPad cool-down, Chitika both ranks the Kindle Fire as ahead of Samsung, but also pins a market share on the Amazon tablet. The online retail giant has always hesitated about attaching any measurable sales or market numbers to its device.

Chitika (tablets, 201301, chart 001)

The questions ahead of us include whether the iPad can continue its market recovery, how Samsung will respond to its poor holiday market showing and whether Amazon’s second-place ranking will put pressure on the Kindle Fire to break out of its at-cost straight-jacket.

Thoughts?