NetworksStudy Claims Windows Usage Market Share Could Soon Fall Below 90%.
Chicago (IL) - A new study released by Net Applications indicates that a decreasing percentage of the Internet population is using Windows as their operating system. It appears that Mac OS X could soon be listed in the double digit-range, while Windows could fall below the 90% mark.
Net Applicationsņ most recent operating system survey is pointing to continued market share gains of Mac OS X at the expense of Windows, echoing similar figures in a recently published browser market share survey. The research firm measures market share by recording which operating systems are used to browse a set of hand-picked web sites that are described to be representative for the overall market - which means that the Net Applications survey does not provide precise market share figures in terms of sales or unit shipments, but provide trends in terms of usage. According to the research firm, the data is collected from a base of "approximately 160 million visitors per month."
The survey lists Appleņs Mac OS X operating system market share in June with a record 7.94%, which is a 0.11 point increase over the previous month. This figure makes OS X the best-selling UNIX variant ever with the largest overall share of the market. Linux currently stands at 0.80% market share in this survey, a slight improvement over the 0.68% recorded last month. Windows machines still dominate the market and came in at 90.89%, down from 91.13 percent in the month ago. Although the lead of Windows remains unquestioned, its share has been dropping slowly but steadily over the past two years.
At the current pace, Windows could drop below the 90% in the fourth quarter of this year.
Appleņs iPhone OS X variant held steady at 0.16% market share in June. "Apple has confirmed that its online inventories for the original version of the iPhone are sold out in the US and UK," Net Applications said. "Apple appears to be clearing out its inventories in preparation for the iPhone 2.0 release. This, in conjunction with customers holding off purchasing until 2.0 is released has temporarily leveled off the iPhone usage share."