Switch To A Mac: OS Wars - 81% of Windows market share loss went to Mac OS X

Posted by: switchtoamac
On: December 4, 2007 03:16 PM

Net Applications' operating system data for November 2007 demonstrates that Apple's Mac OS X hit a new all-time high with 6.80% market share. A more telling story can be seen when the numbers are analyzed. More than 81% of the lost Windows market share has been picked up by Apple's Mac OS X.

81% of lost Windows market share went to Mac OS X
The following graphics tells the story:

The gain is almost directly proportional to a declining Microsoft Windows install base. It's evident that Windows' loss is OS X's gain.

Switcher Effect
When all other operating system's with at least 0.01% market share are analyzed, it's clear that Mac OS X is experiencing growth at the expense of Microst Windows. In fact, two of the top three gains on a percentage basis were for Apple; Mac OS X and iPhone.

The Switch To A Mac phenomenon is continuing to gain momentum. Since the inception of this site in January 2006, we have put forth the opinion that Mac OS X was to experience significant market share gains. The most recent data from Net Applications validates those views. We have listed a few related stories with our published views on market share and Mac growth below. So it begs the question, does the data hint that of those dropping Windows, do 4 out 5 leave Windows for Mac?

Mac OS X grows 26 percent year-over-year
In November 2006, Mac OS X had a 5.39% share of the operating system market. The November 2007 data shows that Mac OS X market share grew 26.15% year-over-year.

Related Stories

Apple Intel and Increased Market Share (January 11, 2006)
Macs are Faster - Benchmarking - Virtualization Technology - Increased Market Share (March 30, 2006)
Macs - Boot Camp - Market Share - Switchers (April 7, 2006)
The Steve Jobs CNBC Interview and Apple's Revitalized Switch Campaign (June 2, 2006)
Market Share category

About Market Share
Net Applications, in contrast to firms such as Gartner who uses quarterly industry sales results, determines market share values based on a network of Internet users. You can read how Net Applications obtains thier data here.