When it comes to comparing mobile platforms it is usual to compare either sales or shipments of handsets. Chitika, a Massachusetts-based ad firm, has taken a slightly different look at things by analyzing usage by levels of web traffic. The findings? Windows Phone still finds itself in third place behind iOS and Android, but it has overtaken BlackBerry.
The figures were reached by tracking ad-impressions on smartphones, and then recording the operating system being used. The study covered the beginning of February to the end of April and took into account around 300 million U.S. and Canadian page impressions.
Of course, the study is only concerned with advertisements delivered through Chitika’s own ad network, so it is not fully representative of the state of the market, but the results still make for interesting reading. Accounting for around 1 percent of web traffic, Windows Phones share has remained fairly level, although there was a slight increase in March. iOS users generate the majority of North American smartphone Web traffic at 53.1 percent, while Android follows with 44.5 percent.
With a number of high profile new Windows Phone devices just released or soon to be released, coupled with the roll out of Windows Phone 8.1, there is certainly potential for things to move upwards. But for the time being, Windows Phone is holding steady, and that’s good news in anybody’s book.
