Netmarketshare analyses market share using web analytics in the computer operating system arena. Same old, same old would best describe the latest results.

Browsers.

IE grew slightly to 55.99% and Firefox (20.63%), Chrome (15.74%), Safari (5.46%) and Opera (1.77%) basically held ground.

What this means is that the market has stabilised and whatever you prefer to use is now what you will continue to use. No amount of new features will entice you to swap.

But looking at the versions in use is interesting. Firefox 20 is still most used and that version needs to be upgraded to version 21 – only 4.66% have done so.

Microsoft IE is fragmented as well with version 6 still being used by 6.03%, Version 8 by 22.99%, Version 9 by 15.39% and version 10 by 9.25%. This reflects the continued use of XP, Vista and Windows 7 over Windows 8.

Desktop operating systems.

Windows is 91.73%, Mac 7.04%. Linux 1.23%.

Windows is fragmented – XP (37.74%), Vista (4.51%), 7 (44.85%) and 8 (4.27%) reflect that Microsoft got it wrong in Windows 8 on the Start Button issue but all will be addressed with version 8.1 and a move to an annual subscription system will help unify the versions in use. XP hardware is now officially well past its use by date so expect to see Windows 8.x skyrocket this year.

Mac is also badly fragmented. 10.6 (1.77%), 10.7 (1.76%) and 10.8 (2.97%) and Apple need to do something to get these to the latest version, if only to reduce support costs.

Tellingly all OS are maintaining market share – there seems to be less imperative to move to a Mac now that its reached 7% market share.

Mobile operating systems

iOS has 59.49% followed by Android at 24.4%, Windows at 1.21% and BlackBerry 1.64%.

But interestingly iOS includes tablets and phones - iPhone has 24.11% and iPad has 34.54%.

Android is fragmented with V2.3 (6.57%), V 4.0 (6.32%), V4.1 (8.47%) and V4.2 (1.18%).

Search engines

Google is used for 83.18% of all searches, Yahoo is next at 8.08%, Bing at 5.63% and you can pretty well forget the rest. This is consistent across mobile and desktop searches meaning that usage patterns are well established regardless of the device used.

In the mobile area Google however is losing ground (10% over the past 12 months) to Bing, Baidu (China) and Yahoo reflecting Windows and other mobile OS take up.

Social media referral (click through to other web sites)

Facebook is so far ahead of Reddit and Youtube that it is not worth comparing and the trend is growing even faster in 2013.

Opinion

Netmarketshare are one of a number of ‘analytical’ sources – it uses web analytics to gather data. Others may have different means for measurement but the results are always interpreted the same so please dont try to compare different methodologies.

Desktops are becoming hybrids but Windows is not going away.

Android as a smartphone OS is growing rapidly and iPhone is falling. It is far worse for Apple if you take the tablet statistics out. My call is that Android will implode as Google struggles to keep version control with so many variants (SamDroid etc) fragmenting the market. Google will however retain its app and advertising hold even if Android does develop in several different flavours.

And the power of Social networks on referrals and click through is beginning to be a major driver for advertisers.