According to the research arm of StatCounter, the independent web analytics company, Google’s Android is now the most popular operating system (OS) in the world in terms of total Internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile combined.
StatCounter’s findings show that in March, Android topped the worldwide OS Internet usage market share for the very first time with 37.93 percent, marginally ahead of Windows which had 37.91 percent.
This feat was driven by the growth of smart phones to access the Internet, a decline in sales of traditional PCs and the impact of Asia on the global market.
“This is a milestone in technology history and the end of an era,” said Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter.
He added, “It marks the end of Microsoft’s leadership worldwide of the OS market which it has held since the 1980s. It also represents a major breakthrough for Android which held just 2.4% of global internet usage share only five years ago.”
It wasn’t all about Android though as Windows still leads the worldwide operating system desktop market (PC and laptop) with a 84 percent Internet usage share in March.
Windows (all versions) maintained its lead across all platforms with 39.5 percent share in March in North America followed by iOS (25.7%) and Android (21.2%).
In Europe, Windows still came out tops at 51.7 percent, which is more than twice the level of Android at 23.6 percent. In Asia though, Android is king with 52.2 percent share while Windows had a 29.2 percent share.
“Windows won the desktop war but the battlefield moved on. It will be difficult for Microsoft to make inroads in mobile but the next paradigm shift might give it the opportunity to regain dominance. That could be in Augmented Reality, AI, Voice or Continuum (a product that aims to replace a desktop and smartphone with a single Microsoft powered phone),” Cullen added.
The full report can be downloaded here.
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