Adoption of Apple’s latest version of OS X stalled in October following a strong start that saw OS X Lion downloaded more than 1 million times during its first day of availability this past July. Ad network Chitika analyzed its recent traffic and found that Lion’s share among all operating systems is just over 1.5%, barely a blip on the radar. Usage of the new OS had grown at an average rate of 4.05% each month between June and September, but since then its share has increased at an average rate of just 0.98% per month. Read on for more.

Lion’s growth in usage share among other versions of OS X also fails to impress. Chitika reported in late September that Lion’s usage share had climbed to 14.18% since launching, as Snow Leopard dipped to a 55.5% usage share. In just over a month since that report, Lion gained less than 2 percentage points to reach 16% and, surprisingly perhaps, Snow Leopard’s usage share increased half a point to 56%.

“Apple’s ‘most advanced’ operating system OS X Lion (formally OS X 10.7) hasn’t exactly been their most popular release,” Chitika’s Ryan Cavanagh wrote on the company’s blog. ”According to Apple’s Press page, Lion sales were hot over the first few days, even seeing over one million downloads in the first day. However, since then the latest version of OS X has faced criticism from both users and reviewers alike.”

Cavanagh suggests that issues such as Wi-Fi instability and poor battery performance on MacBook Pro models could be among the causes of hesitation among Mac users. ”Lion’s adoption rate has been less than stellar, to say the least,” Cavanagh added. “While we are seeing consistent monthly growth, Lion isn’t taking off the way some had anticipated.”

Apple released the latest version of its iOS platform to the public last week on October 12th and within five days, the platform accounted for more than 20% of all iOS traffic on Chitika’s ad network. Chitika Insights, the network’s research arm, this week revealed the results of a seven-day study that monitored iOS 5 web traffic. On October 11th, the day before iOS 5 became available to the public, the new build was barely a blip on the radar. IOS 5 accounted for 10% of the impressions served to Apple’s mobile devices on the 14th and by the end of the day on October 17th, it claimed more than 20% of iOS impressions. “The sudden surge in iOS 5 adoption is likely due to the fact that that a large portion of Apple consumers fall under the category of “early adopter’, ” Chitika’s Ryan Cavanagh wrote on the company’s blog. Cavanagh also noted that iOS 4 is currently still the predominant version of the platform on its network, but he expects that to change soon.

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Police in Abu Dhabi and Dubai said the number of reported traffic accidents plunged during Research In Motion’s recent three-day BlackBerry outage. According to The National, accidents fell 20% in Dubai and 40% in Abu Dhabi. Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim from the Dubai Police department said his force saw the largest decrease among young drivers and men. “The accidents that occur from the use of these devices range between minor and moderate ones, but at times they are deadly,” Tamim explained. “Absolutely nothing has happened in the past week in terms of killings on the road and we’re really glad about that,” Brigadier General Al Harethi, from Abu Dhabi’s police department said. “People are slowly starting to realize the dangers of using their phone while driving. The roads became much safer when BlackBerry stopped working.” According to The National, there is typically a fatal accident in Abu Dhabi every two days and an accident every three minutes in Dubai.

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Millennial issued its June Mobile Mix report Friday morning, and it paints a picture that is very similar to May. Android was once again the most popular smartphone operating system in the month of June as it ticked up one percentage point to receive 54% of all impressions served by the Millennial Media network. iOS lost a point to fall to 26% while RIM shed two points to fall to 15%. Symbian and Windows Phone each gained a point to account for 3% and 2% of the impressions served, respectively. Of note, however, Windows Phone usage was up 31% quarter-over-quarter and BlackBerry OS usage was up 29% over the same period. Apple’s iPhone was still the top device Millennial saw in June with a 16.19% share, nearly triple the BlackBerry Curve, which was the second most popular device at 5.57%. The Motorola DROID filled the No. 3 spot with 2.95%, and the Samsung Nexus S and current-model BlackBerry Bold rounded out the top-5 with 2.71% and 1.99%, respectively. Apple was also the top vendor in June, as its devices accounted for 30.76% of Millennial impressions. Samsung was the No. 2 OEM with 14.94% and RIM held the No. 3 spot with 11.76%. Additional charts outlining more key data from Millennial’s Mobile Mix report follow below.

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Microsoft secretly participated in a recent $25 million funding round for Israel-based navigation solutions provider Waze, Israeli tech site TheMarker reported last week. Microsoft makes very few investments each year according to TheMarker’s source, but the tech giant apparently took quite an interest in Waze’s unique brand of navigation apps. “Waze is a social mobile application providing free turn-by-turn navigation based on the live conditions of the road. 100% powered by users, the more you drive, the better it gets,” the company’s website states. The company’s apps provide free voice-guided navigation to users, and also provide real-time data such as traffic conditions and speed trap alerts based on both automatic and manual feedback from each of Waze’s 4.5 million users around the world. While the terms of Microsoft’s investment were not revealed, the move is an interesting one — Microsoft is now in bed with Nokia, owner of navigation giant Navteq, and it will supply the OS for Nokia’s smartphones moving forward. Microsoft has already announced that it will use Navteq to power future navigation solutions in its Windows Phone OS, but it looks like a unique version of Waze for Windows Phone is in the works as well.

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According to a new report from NetMarketShare, the iPad accounts for 1% of global web traffic and 2.1% of web traffic in the United States — a figure that’s 53 times greater than its nearest tablet competitor, the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Similarly, its traffic is 76 times greater than that of the Motorola XOOM, and 306 greater than the BlackBerry PlayBook. In the United States, the iPad owns 25.5% of the mobile browser market, which is a smaller chunk than Android’s 31.6% share and the iPhone’s 35.2% market share. The research data is compiled from more than 160 million visitors accessing Net Applications’ network.

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TomTom has announced that its HD Traffic service, originally only available on the Go 2535 M LIVE personal navigation device, is now available for all drivers using its LIVE products. HD Traffic updates drivers every two minutes with road conditions, and it gathers its data from a variety of sources — including from other driers on the road with HD Traffic — to steer you towards the fastest possible route. The service is available on the GO 740 LIVE, XL 340 LIVE, and GO 2535 M LIVE, and TomTom dropped the subscription price from $119.95 per year to $59.95 per year. Hit the jump for the full release.

TomTom HD Traffic Service Now Available on All LIVE Models in the U.S.

TomTom, the world’s leading provider of location and navigation products and services, announced today the company is expanding its TomTom HD Traffic service to all LIVE models available in the United States. Until now, TomTom HD Traffic was only available on the recently released GO 2535 M LIVE. TomTom HD Traffic enables drivers get to their destination faster and is the most accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date traffic solution available today.

Now, owners of the popular GO 740 LIVE and XL 340 LIVE, as well as the newly released GO 2535 M LIVE, will not only have access to LIVE Services – including Local Search, Fuel Prices, and Weather Forecasts – but they will also have access to the award-winning TomTom HD Traffic*. Additionally, TomTom announced that the new annual subscription fee for LIVE Services will be offered at the new price of $59.95 per year, previously offered at $119.95.

“We are thrilled to expand availability of TomTom HD Traffic to more drivers in the U.S.,” said Tim Roper, President, TomTom, Inc. “Drivers using TomTom HD Traffic will typically experience travel times reduced by up to 15%, helping them get to their destinations faster and be more relaxed along the way.”

TomTom HD Traffic provides the most accurate traffic solution by reporting and capturing more actual traffic jams than ever before to help drivers avoid delays. Only TomTom HD Traffic will recognize traffic conditions for both major and secondary roads within the U.S. road network to help re-route drivers clear of traffic. Additionally, with real-time traffic updates every two minutes, TomTom HD Traffic will help reroute drivers around traffic more quickly and get them to their destination faster.

Expanding the availability of TomTom HD Traffic is one of the commitments that TomTom has outlined in its Traffic Manifesto, which is the company’s mission to reduce traffic congestion for everyone. Drivers using TomTom HD Traffic are helping to reduce traffic congestion for themselves and every driver around them.

The expanded service is available immediately to current and new LIVE Services subscribers. For more information about TomTom’s Traffic Manifesto, visit www.tomtom.com/trafficmanifesto.

Included in Apple’s “Q&A on Location Data” press release this morning was a rare and concrete statement that pointed to a future project the company is working on. “Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years,” reads the release. Currently, iOS offers its users traffic-data through the bundled Google Maps application. It is unclear whether Apple is collecting this information to supplement the aforementioned offering, or — as rumors suggest — to build a new application that is less reliant on Google. Either way, it is an unusual statement from the Cupertino-based company about a future service.

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At SXSW, Google’s VP of  Location and Local Services, Marissa Mayer, took the stage and dished out some interesting Google data, including mobile stats. During her talk, Mayer revealed the following statistics we found interesting:

• 40% of all Google Maps usage is from mobile devices, and Christmas and New Years day mobile usage surpassed desktop usage for the first time.
• 150 million mobile users on Google Maps
• Google Maps Navigation, included on Android handsets, has guided users 12 billion miles a year, and the latest version with traffic routing saves users 2 years per day in time that would have been spent in traffic.
• Google Maps could get smarter, and become contextually aware. For instance, if you were trying to catch a flight, Google Maps could see your flight schedule to see when your flight was, then look and analyze real-time traffic data and weather conditions to try and figure out the exact time you should leave
• Google would like there to be better Google Maps for iPhone. “We like being the default provider, but we’d like to get some of these updates out to a broader audience. That’s still a debate/question we’re considering.”

With Google’s Android explosion continuing, it looks like there will plenty more Google Maps and Navigation users over the next few years.

Oh Google Maps, is there anything you can’t do? Via a blog post just moments ago, Google announced an incremental update to its Maps application for Android. The update, which is still technically in beta, brings real-time traffic routing right to your smartphone. “You don’t have to do anything to be routed around traffic; just start Navigation like you normally would, either from the Navigation app or from within Google Maps,” reads the announcement. “Before today, Navigation would choose whichever route was fastest, without taking current traffic conditions into account.” The software will work in both North America and Europe, and is waiting for you in the Android Market. Enjoy.

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According to the recent findings of Web app performance watcher Compuware Gomez, the addition of the iPhone 4 to Verizon Wireless’ network has had no noticeable affect on network performance. This could mean sales of the highly anticipated Apple smartphone aren’t quite as impressive as many thought they would be. It could also mean that Verizon’s network is so beastly that it’s gobbling up all that new traffic and laughing at the competition — namely AT&T, whose network has been the target of countless iPhone-related complaints over the past few years. Finally, it could mean that Apple’s move to dump Infineon’s chipset and baseband in favor of a Qualcomm offering was a wise, albeit late decision. Granted, Compuware Gomez is only using four days worth of data in its assessment, so it could mean none of these things. For the time being, however, Verizon Wireless subscribers can rest assured that their network is handling the added stress of Apple’s iPhone 4 in stride.

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Here’s a shocking statistic. California based search giant Google accounts for 6.4% of all Internet traffic. That’s right, every time you google something, compose an email in Gmail, or watch a YouTube video you’re helping the Mountain View company generate 6.4% of the Internet’s traffic; a number that is up more than 1% since January. The information comes courtesy of online security company Arbor Networks who also note that “only one global ISP handles more traffic than Google.” Arbor speculates that Google’s share could be even greater — somewhere between 8 and 12 percent — if you included traffic handled by Google’s “Global Cache deployments.” That is a lot of traffic.

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Aside from announcing the C6-01, C7, and E7, Nokia also announced some added features to their Ovi Maps application today at Nokia World. The new, improved Ovi Maps will offer, live traffic flow information, a new drive assist mode, public transportation maps, a redesigned places page, and social check-ins. The public transportation maps will be available via a map layer for over 80 cities around the world and check-ins will allow you to broadcast your location via SMS or to your social network of choice. We’ve got a video demoing the new check-in feature after the break, but we have to warn you… the lame-factor of the video is way up there.

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Digital Daily has published an interesting report about the profitability of Apple retail stores. The report states that in Apple’s last quarter — Q3 for Apple — the fruit company’s retail arm brought in $2.58 billion, a 72.8% jump from Q2 of 2009. In a retrospective comparison, Digital Daily notes that $2.58 billion is, “greater than the company’s total quarterly revenue from the second quarter of fiscal 1996 through the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004.” The iPad is being given credit for much of the retail success, the launch has, “generated a 38.7 percent increase in visitors per store, a 52.9 percent increase in same-store revenues, and a stunning 106.3 percent increase in non-Mac revenues.” We’ve heard that Apple retail stores gross more than double (per square foot) than high-end retailer Tiffany’s, and with numbers like this, we aren’t having a hard time believing it.

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A traffic app out of 1995. Yes, it’s a beta leaked application, but does that really even matter? You can clearly see their thought pattern. Plus I’m not sure a 4 year old could make something as ugly in Xcode for iPhone if they tried.