Microsoft Surface users account for 8% of Windows 8 devices worldwide, dominates RT category.

Latest data from advertisement network AdDuplex reveals usage statistics of both Windows 8 and Windows RT in the first month of 2013. Information presented in this report was collected on January 14th (112 Windows Store apps running the AdDuplex SDK). As well as usages, Windows RT devices and multiple geographic locations are also included.

The first chart (above) shows a strong presence from Microsoft's Surface RT worldwide at 7.6%, while the remaining top 10 is populated by multiple manufacturers. AdDuplex notes that the company has seen more than 7,400 different device models running Windows 8 this month, compared to just over 5,000 a month ago. 

It's a strong (and expected) start for Microsoft, but the company has some way to go with the Surface Pro tablet yet to launch. It'll be interesting to see how the market changes with a second, more powerful tablet from the company in the mix. Looking at manufacturers directly:

Windows 8 and RT: Non-Surface hardware

The above chart shows Hewlett-Packard maintaining its lead with ASUS up into second place at 10%. Dell is joint with ASUS, while Acer takes fourth position on 9%. It's interesting to see HP remain ahead with Windows 8 / RT. But what about market penetration, which country represents the most active userbase?

The US accounts for 35% of hardware running Windows 8 / RT. This is followed by the UK on just 8%, showing a huge gap between the two markets. India, Germany and Canada are each on 4%, following second place. It's interesting to see how low China is in the rankings. AdDuplex reports that the market is in 55th place, which is a slight step down from its performance in the Windows Phone ecosystem.

Microsoft Surface and its impact

As can be seen in the above chart, there are no surprises apart from Puerto Rico claiming a spot in top 10. Overall the report shows consumers using Surface tablets in 115 countries. AdDuplex also provides individual market breakdown, which we'll summarise below:

• US - Surface RT is ranked first for both Windows 8 and RT devices, while HP leads manufacturers with Microsoft in third position.
• Germany - Microsoft's tablet leads in Germany with a few Medion laptops in the top ten. Interestingly, the Acer ICONIO W510 performing well against the Surface. Acer is the leading manufacturer in the country, with HP sat in third.
• India - This is the one market where Microsoft doesn't hold the top position with the Surface (it's ranked 5th), HP hardware takes the lead. Dell leads manufacturer rankings in India, with HP in second and Sony in third.

It should be noted that AdDuplex was unable to identify Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 in logs analysed. This is likely due to the inability to discover the model name. The full AdDuplex report will be published in full tomorrow. It's a good insight into how things are progressing in multiple markets, as well as worldwide. While this report is by no means 100% accurate in representing activity, it's a starting point.

[Edit: As some users are suggesting, these numbers are skewed to RT devices since it measures RT app usage via the Store. The opposing theory says that those on Windows 8 proper simply don't use RT apps as much as those with a Surface.

That is certainly plausible although without any firm numbers of usage patterns of non-RT users, it's hard to say for sure. Due to the "in your face" approach of the RT interface and Store we're not entirely convinced of the distinction just yet.]