Apple secured a larger piece of the operating-system pie in December. Mac OS X, which hasn’t been a threat to Microsoft’s Windows operating systems in the past, is gaining traction.
The market share for Mac OS X rose nearly 10 percent last month, according to Net Applications, a research company based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., which tracts Internet browsers and operating systems.
In December, Apple’s Mac OS X had 9.63 percent of the market. While that’s not great in comparison to Microsoft’s 88.68 percent, it’s increasing.
In November, Mac OS X had an 8.9 percent market share. The increase is significant for Apple, which holds the number-two spot behind Microsoft, and a significant increase from 2007 when it had 7.3 percent.
Usage of Mac OS X was record-setting with a two-month increase during November and December. Those months’ combined gain of 1.4 percentage points was larger than Net Applications’ previous record, a 0.9 percentage point increase between September and October 2006, and nearly double the 0.73 percentage point increase between November and December 2007.
Just as Apple had a record-setting two months, Microsoft also had a record with the largest decrease in Windows usage in four years — as long as Net Application has been tracking operating systems. The decrease was also the second consecutive monthly loss for Microsoft. Windows ended the year down 3.1 percentage points, a 3.4 percent drop in its share from the same time in 2007.
Apple’s Mac OS X has been attracting more users because with each release it has become faster. Versions 10.0 through 10.4.11 have increased in speed with each new issue and didn’t require any additional hardware, according to Apple.
Apple also had more to cheer about as its iPhone 3G had a good month and year in terms of market…