OS and browser market shares for December 2012

NetMarketShare’s desktop Operating System Market Share metrics for December 2012 show Windows’ overall market share gaining a quarter point, with OS X and Linux logging modest share losses on the month. November share standings are shown in parentheses for comparison.

• Windows – 91.74% (91.45%)
• Mac – 7.07% (7.30%)
• Linux – 1.19% (1.25%)

Over in the mobile/tablet category, the iOS lost a point in December, despite the successful iPad mini and 4th Generation iPad releases, and iPhone 5 shipment volumes picking up. Google’s Android was down even more sharply, while Java ME gained about 3.5 points. Symbian, Blackberry, Windows Phone, and Kindle all logged smalll gains on the month.

• iOS – 60.13% (61.10%)
• Android - 24.60% (28.02%)
• JavaME – 10.18% (6.65%)
• BlackBerry – 1.59% (1.42%)
• Symbian – 1.53% (1.24%)
• Windows Phone – 1.05% (0.90%)
• Kindle – 0.60% (0.40% )
• Bada – 0.11% (0.11%)
• Windows Mobile – 0.08% (0.06%)
• Samsung – 0.08% (0.07%)

Desktop OS Versions

In terms of OS specific versions, frontrunner Windows 7 and all the other Windows versions were down slightly, while Windows 8 logged about 6/10 of a point gain, but still only managed 1.72%—behind all three of the most recent OS X versions, but handily passing Linux.

On the Mac, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion finally leapfrogged over the two previous versions and into first place, which OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard finally relinquished. OS X 10.7 Lion is in third.

Windows:

• Windows 7 – 45.11% (44.71%)
• Windows XP – 39.08% (39.82%)
• Windows Vista – 5.67% (5.70%)
• Windows 8 – 1.72% (1.09%)

Macintosh:

• Mac OS X 10.8 – 2.27% (2.14%)
• MacOS X 10.6 – 2.07% (2.19%)
• Mac OS X 10.7 – 2.34% (2.45%)
• Mac OS X 10.5 – 0.56% (0.61%)
• Mac OS X 10.4 – 0.14% (0.15%)

Linux - 1.19% (1.25)

Mobile/Tablet OS Versions

The iPad version of Apple’s iOS eased slightly in December after its substantial gain of nearly five percentage points in November, with the iPhone variant sideways, and iPod down slightly in December. Over on Android, version 2.3 is still top dog, but all versions LOst ground except for version 4.1 and the new version 4.2, with 3.1 sideways. Windows Phone remains a distant also-ran, Windows 8 evidently not having much impact yet.

iOS – 61.10% (59.87%)

• iPad – 36.56% (37.45%)
• iPhone – 22.51% (22.53%)
• iPod – 1.06% (1.24%)

JavaME - 6.65% (8.04%)

Android - 28.02% (27.35%)

• Android 2.3 – 9.58% (11.89%)
• Android 4.0 – 8.60% (10.23%)
• Android 4.1 – 2.55% (2.03%)
• Android 2.2 – 1.66% (1.96%)
• Android 2.1 – 0.32% (0.42%)
• Android 3.2 – 1.03% (0.68%)
• Android 4.2 – 0.40%
• Android 3.1 – 0.33% (0.33%)

Symbian - 1.53% (1.24%)

BlackBerry - 1.59% (1.42%)

Kindle Fire - 0.40% (0.42%)

Windows

• Windows Phone OS 7.5 – 1.03% (0.88%)
• Windows CE – 1.03% (0.04%)

Galaxy Tab - 0.30% (0.28%)

For more information, visit netmarketshare.com.

Browser Share

In desktop Web browsers, Internet Explorer was static and Firefox dropped back below 20 percent, Chrome resumed forward momentum after dropping share for three months in a row, Safari desktop edged down and Opera was up slightly.

In the mobile/tablet browser category, top dog Safari for iOS again built on its lead, while Android in distant second was down significantly. Opera MIni made a significant gain of just shy of three points. Chrome mobile gained more ground, while Blackberry lost some, and mobile Microsoft Internet Explorer’s gained a bit to stay ahead of Symbian.

Desktop Browser Market Share

• Microsoft Internet Explorer – 54.77% (54.76%)
• Firefox – 19.82% (20.44%)
• Chrome – 18.04% (17.24%)
• Safari 5.24% (5.33%)
• Opera – 1.71% (1.67%)

Mobile/Tablet Market Share

• Safari – 60.56% (61.50%)
• Android Browser – 22.10% (26.09%)
• Opera Mini – 10.71% (7.02%)
• Chrome – 1.48% (1.14%)
• BlackBerry – 1.17% (1.32%)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer – 1.17% (0.95%)
• Symbian – 0.77% (0.69%)
• Opera Mobile – 0.62% (0.53%)
• Firefox – 0.01% (0.01%)

You can check it out at netmarketshare.com.