The iPad now accounts for nearly 1 per cent of all Web browsing, which may not sound like a lot until you look at the numbers for Apple's closest competitors.
The iPad conducts 0.92 per cent of Web browsing, but the Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab clocks in at a meager 0.018 per cent, the Motorola Xoom at 0.012 per cent, and the BlackBerry Playbook at 0.003 per cent.
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"In other words, the iPad has 53 times the usage share of its nearest competitor," says Net Applications, which estimates browser and operating system usage by tracking a global network of more than 40,000 websites.
Overall, Apple's iOS - which is used on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch - accounts for 2.38 per cent of all Web-connected devices, in third place behind Windows' 88.69 per cent and Mac's 5.32 per cent.
All Android devices combined, including tablets and phones, total 0.76 per cent, which is less than Linux desktops and the Java ME platform for mobile devices and embedded systems.
No one set of numbers can be seen as definitive, of course. Recent sales show Android phones matching or surpassing the iPhone. And StatCounter, another tracking organization, shows a relatively small gap between iOS and Android usage. In May, iOS accounted for 22.09 per cent of mobile operating system usage, compared to Android's 17.63 per cent, according to Statcounter. Both were behind Symbian's 31.36 per cent.
Net Applications' latest market share report also shows desktop browser trends. Microsoft's Internet Explorer continued its slide, dropping from 55.11 per cent usage in April to 54.27 per cent in May. Firefox improved slightly from 21.63 per cent to 21.71 per cent, and Google's Chrome jumped from 11.94 per cent to 12.52 per cent. Safari and Opera account for less than 10 per cent of Web browsing usage combined.
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