While it may be a too soon to call the new iPad Air a sales success, apparently the early take-up of Apple’s latest tablet indicates that it’s  already off to a flying start right out the gate.

According to mobile analytics company Fikso, the iPad Air is already showing a solid adoption rate as compared with its predecessors. Indeed, since it launch Stateside on the 1^st of this month, the iPad Air’s adoption rate was more than quadruple that of the iPad 4, and triple that of the first iPad Mini, in their launch windows.

In a graph, Fiksu’s initial tracking efforts reported that, just three days since its launch, the adoption of the iPad Air (0.75% of all iPads) was twice that of the iPad 4’s 0.37% during its same launch period.

The company explained that, in order to gauge the iPad Air’s reception in the marketplace, it added two new trackers: one that compares adoption of the iPad Air to recent iPad launches, and one that tracks the current active usage rates for all models. Additionally, it continued that when the iPad Mini 2 hits stores later in November, it would be tracked in comparison with other iPad models as well.

By comparison with previous the launch windows of iPad models, the iPad Air is off to a very healthy start. 

Dare to compare

It is the comparison between the iPad Air and the iPad Mini 2, when it launches, which should be the most revealing, particularly since the two models, apart from their size, are otherwise very similar to each other now. Indeed, the iPad Air is lighter, slimmer and more compact than previous 9.7” iPads, while the iPad Mini 2 has one thing the previous generation lacked, namely a Retina display.

As things presently stand though, Fiksu’s tracking of which iPad models are predominantly used overall contains a bit of a surprise. It is still the iPad 2 that is the king of the hill, at almost 40%, followed by the iPad Mini at 20% and then the iPad 4 and iPad 3 bringing up the rear at 22% and 18% respectively.

Extrapolating, this may well mean that the majority of iPad users have tended to skip the previous two generations and hold onto their iPad 2 for as long as possible. Alternatively, the iPad Mini’s adoption seems to indicate that the more compact form of that iPad was an attractive proposition for iPad users.

The most commonly used iPad - not the iPad 4 or iPad 3 as you might expect, but rather the golden oldie iPad 2.

To the point

On both fronts, this could play to the iPad Air’s continued adoption, for those who held out and for those users seeking to upgrade. For one thing, the smaller and lighter frame of the iPad Air may go a long way to appealing to users who cast a hungry eye on the iPad Mini, but were turned off by the lack of Retina display. Additionally, perhaps now there is enough of a jump up from an iPad 2 to the iPad Air to more easily be able to justify upgrading.

As to Tim Cook’s prediction that this will be “an iPad Christmas,” well, we shall see.