Mac nears 6.5% web share as Safari cracks 5% for first time
updated 11:55 am EDT, Sat October 1, 2011
NetApplications Sept 2011 shows school effect
The Mac hit a pair of record highs in web share during September thanks to the back-to-school effect, NetApplications found in its monthly roundup. The Mac saw one of its sharpest gains in the past year and was up nearly half a point in desktop share to 6.45 percent. Helped by the new leap, Apple's stake in computers has grown by nearly a quarter in the past year, the close look found.
All of the gain was at Windows' expense. It was still in a clear majority but was down by almost exactly as much as Apple gained, to 92.44 percent.
The Mac uptick was manifested in browser share, where Safari was just past five percent at 5.02. Internet Explorer accordingly took one of its steepest month-to-month drops ever, slumping nearly a whole point in web share to a new relative low of 54.39 percent. Most of that gain will have come from Google Chrome, which grew faster than Safari to hit 16.2 percent.
Microsoft had some success,but mostly in encouraging browser adoption. Internet Explorer 9 was seeing some of the fastest adoption among Windows 7 browsers at 20.97 percent, making it second only to its immediate ancestor's 31.6 percent.
Mobile share wrapped up the tracking and was another win for Apple that also defied market share trends. iOS not only bounced back from a decline in August but set a new high of 54.65 percent of the mobile space. Android also grew, but it was still just a fraction of Apple's size at 16.26 percent. Both were mostly gaining at the expenses of basic feature phone owners upgrading to a smartphone.
Apple's gain in mobile may have been spurred on through students once more and also shows the influence of non-iPhone devices. While data from Nielsen (above) shows Android in nearly a two to one share lead in smartphones, students are more likely to have an iPad or iPod touch. Android has few viable MP3 players and is still struggling to compete against the iPad in tablets.
Desktop browser share
Windows 7 browser share
Mobile OS share
