UPDATE:  Based on new information released by Amazon in November detailing possible variations in user agent strings for Kindle Fire devices, the tablet market share figure for Kindle Fire has increased and can be seen our November 2012 tablet market share update.

Over the past year, the tablet market has seen major changes. The third-generation iPad was announced in March 2012, and with it came the impressive Retina display, among other features. Apple has since gone on to unveil both a fourth-generation iPad and a seven-inch iPad Mini, and Microsoft even announced its own upcoming entrance into the tablet ecosystem with the Microsoft Surface. As the state of the tablet market continues to evolve, Chitika Insights conducted a research study to determine which tablet devices are seeing the most success in terms of usage from their user base.

To quantify this study, Chitika Insights looked at a sample of tens of millions of tablet impressions from the Chitika Ad network. This study was drawn from a date range of October 9th to October 15th 2012, and only includes traffic from the U.S. and Canada. Due to the iPad’s overwhelming presence in the tablet market, with usage of its tablets accounting for over 90% of all tablet Web traffic seen over our network, the usage of other tablets is relayed in terms of impressions per 100 iPads.

The Google Nexus 7 has performed extremely well, rising to fourth position among Android tablets after seeing its usage increase 135% since July. The Barnes & Noble Nook has also exceeded expectations since July, and now claims a spot as the second-most used Android tablet. Notably, the Samsung Galaxy Tablet 10.1 has retained the top position as most used Android tablet. Activity on the 7” and 10” Samsung Galaxy Tablets combined is more than double the level of usage generated by any other Android tablet.

As the tablet market continues to heat up, look for Android to slowly eat away at Apple’s position of dominance in the long term, but not before the iPad Mini tips momentum back to the Cupertino giant in the immediate future.

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