Latest data says Microsoft was the top U.S. online tablet brand in October, surpassing Apple

Even though tablet sales have been declining, the Apple iPad has managed to stay on top of most charts measuring the number of tablets shipped or sold during a given period. During those heady early years, Apple's iOS powered slate managed to grab a peak market share in the area of 95%. Seven months after the Apple iPad was unveiled by Steve Jobs, and one month prior to the unveiling of the Apple iPad 2, the OG iPad was seeing its slice of the pie slowly eroded by Android flavored slabs.

By the first quarter of 2013, the iPad had under 40% of the market, down from the 58% share it held during the first quarter of 2012. Two quarters later, the iPad's market share was under 30%. And while cheap Android markets were the first to challenge the iPad, Apple's tablet has a worthy adversary in Microsoft's Surface Pro devices. The Surface Pro 3 was named by Time as one of the top 25 inventions of 2014. And the Surface Pro 4 was launched a little more than one month ago.

According to the guys at WinBeta, they have seen an advance copy of a report by by the 101data Ecom Insights Panel. This report allegedly says that in October, Microsoft sold more tablets online in the U.S. than any other manufacturer, including former leader Apple. Microsoft's share of online tablet sales soared to 45% in October, while Apple's share dropped in half to 17% from September through October. During the same time period, Amazon's share doubled from 5% to 10%.

Other data shows that Redmond is selling the most expensive tablets at an average of $844. The Surface Pro 3 wasn't cheap, and neither is the Surface Pro 4 and the hybrid Surface Book. The 512GB version of the Surface Book is priced at more than $2600 at Best Buy. The average iPad is priced at $392.

While Microsoft took over the top spot in U.S. online tablet sales in October, over the last 12 months Apple still leads the category with a 34% slice of the pie. Microsoft is next with 17%, and Amazon's 11% share is good for third place. If Microsoft's momentum continues, we could see some major changes in U.S. online tablet market share during the next 12 months.

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source: WinBeta