IPad Ranked As Most-Used Mobile Device: Will Apple Maintain Top Spot With iPad Mini? [REPORT]

Because of its wide array of associated products, Android appears to be the most popular mobile-device platform when it comes to selling gadgets. In terms of usage, however, Apple's iOS comes out on top, according to a new study released by Chitika.

Research tools were used to track usage in real-time, and they reveal consumers in the U.S. are more active on Apple devices than on any other. The data were published on Saturday, and they show that, in the previous 24 hours, iOS devices including the iPhone, iPad, and iPod accounted for almost 68 percent of all the usage on Chitika's online advertising network. In contrast, Android accounted for less than 28 percent. Other platforms, such as Windows and BlackBerry, ranked at less than 5 percent.

The advertisement network's research broke the numbers down even further, specifying that most traffic comes from iPad tablets. According to Chitika, users browsing apps and websites where its ads are displayed come from iPad owners more so than from iPhone or iPod users.

The Chitika chart, titled U.S. Mobile Traffic Share By Hour, color-codes the different operating systems with green representing Android, blue symbolizing iOS, and orange signifying other devices. The graphic is largely dominated by blue, with different shades representing iPads, iPhones, and iPods. It looks like the iPad accounts for nearly 50 percent of the total traffic, according to the chart.

This isn't the first time that Chitika has looked into the iPad's usage. On Friday, the company found that users of iPads had the highest click-through rates.

This is actually a pretty interesting bit of data for the world of mobile advertising and mobile content in general, wrote Tech Crunch's Ingrid Lunden. It potentially gives ad networks, and advertisers, a lot more insight into planning campaigns on one platform versus another and one device versus another.

This number is sure to increase as Apple plans to unveil its next-generation smartphone, the iPhone 5, and a rumored iPad Mini. No official release date has been revealed for either of these gadgets, but the iPhone 5 can be expected to launch in June or October, according to reports.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said the release of a new iPad is a question of when, not if, Tech Radar reported, referring to the rumored mini tablet. The resolution is said to be 1,024 X 768, but nothing has been officially confirmed.

With every iPad at the same resolution, app developers wouldn't have to update their products for the new iPad, wrote Tech Radar's Michael Rougeau.

The iPhone 5 is said to be Apple's first LTE-enabled smartphone, and it is expected to ramp up sales figures for the company. Apple's fourth-quarter earning report indicated that sales fell short of its goal of 17.07 million units, but this can surely be attributed to anticipation surrounding the iPhone 5.