The December 2007 market share stats for operating systems and web browsers are in. I wouldn’t say any of the numbers are that shocking because patterns have emerged for many of them, but looking back one year ago shows some pretty impressive results.
For the stats that we’ve posted below we’re using the data provided by Net Applications. Generally this has been looked at as a fairly accurate representation of the market share for browsers, but when it comes to operating systems it’s not quite what you would expect. That’s because it is only able to analyze the computers that are browsing the Internet, which eliminates nearly all of the servers out there that are never used for that purpose.
–Browsers–
The general trend with browsers is exactly what you would expect it to be. The standards compliant browsers are reaping the benefits of their hard work. Browsers like Firefox, Safari, and Opera have all increased their market share over the past year, while Internet Explorer is looking at a nearly 4% drop.
–Operating Systems–
There is a new operating system that wasn’t available last year, and it has already been able to make its way onto the charts. What is it? The iPhone! It only has a small market share right now, but for only being around 7 months I would say that it’s doing pretty darn good. Aside from that the Windows market share has dropped over 2%, with Mac and Linux coming in to scoop it up. Linux’s market share is still a little weak, but it did almost double which is pretty significant.
Note: As I mentioned above this would not include stats from servers and such which are not used for browsing the Internet.
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Tags: Firefox, Software, Windows, Browser, Internet Explorer, iPhone, Linux, Mac, Opera
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I wish that regular home users had a choice in browsers when they buy their pc’s. Maybe a chart like Vista had in stores. Though I doubt M$ would like it, cause they’d loose 70% of their share once people see how great Firefox is. Can’t say anything for Safari on Windows, though I did read it was buggy.
Microsoft definitely wouldn’t be happy about that, but I definitely think something like this will be happening in the future. As Firefox continues to get more mainstream PC retailers will want to deliver the products that the consumer wants, and if they want Firefox then they will provide it. (especially since it wouldn’t cost them a dime).
Firefox was created for web standards purposes but it 1-upped IE in a completely different aspect (i.e addons) which suddenly became very important after Web 2.0’s popularity. If most people simply surf the web and use different services with their computer instead of using an installed app, the browser naturally becomes the most important piece of app, it becomes the entirely gateway to the internet eXPerience. Apart from standards support, MS failed to understand this when they disbanded the IE team. And now even when they can create a flexible ecosystem around IE like they’ve done with Windows, they don’t do it because for enterprises it’ll be HELL troubleshooting various instability issues arising due to IE’s addons, which may tarnish IE’s image. Now, the whole focus for me using Firefox has changed. I started using it for superior web standards support, but now I won’t touch any other browser till it has these many addons.
Meanwhile, looking at the marketshares, Windows has something to fear from OS X but not much from Linux inspite of all the Linux media hype. MS’ve sort of acknowledged at different times in indirect subtle ways that they screwed up with Vista because of its rushed schedule and they’ll get things right in Windows 7. But again, they’re foolish in being more focussed on Google rather than Apple. OS X will never acquire the % of Windows marketshare because of its closed hardware-locked model, but even if it does touch 20% (which it’ll surely by 2010), that’s a slap in MS’s face.
I don’t know about Firefox’s greatness, so far its been crashing on me, and I don’t know what to do. I use it only because it is the one that opens my Yahoo mail whenever I click the “mail” button on Yahoo Messenger.
Safari was ok, never crashed on me, but its not my type. I use Vista Home Premium, btw.
On the iPhone OS, thats just the way it is. 50% of my internet surfing (mostly checking email and Facebook) is done on my iPod, just because I don’t have a laptop and I’m in school (sometimes during class).