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2008 - Year of the Mac?

Data released by Net Applications for December 2007 tells us something that most of us already knew - that Mac is on a roll and gaining momentum every month.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Data released by Net Applications for December 2007 tells us something that most of us already knew - that Mac is on a roll and gaining momentum every month.

2008 - Year of the Mac?

While we should be careful about drawing market share conclusions from the Net Applications data (because this data only tells us what computers and operating systems are used to access a broad selection of web sites), month on month the Mac OS has seen stronger numbers. Back in January 2006 Mac stood at 4.21%, by December 2006 this had risen to 5.67%, and then to a robust 7.31% by December 2007. Either Mac users are surfing the web more, or the market share is growing. Given how Net Applications collects this data, it's safe to assume that market share has grown roughly in proportion with these figures.

Who are these people flocking to the Mac platform? I still stand by what I wrote back in July 2007:

Here’s the pattern that I’m seeing “in the wild”. I’m generalizing but I’m finding that people with a basic working knowledge of Windows are migrating to Mac because they perceive it as being simpler and easier Windows. Folks migrating to Linux seem to be those with a really good working knowledge of Windows (and computing in general). While it’s far too early for Microsoft to be worried about this platform migration, it should be having a think about why it’s happening.

I've said it before, these numbers also show is how Mac is representing a much greater threat to Linux than Microsoft. While Apple is looking at hitting that noteworthy (but otherwise meaningless) 10% mark, Linux is still struggling with the first 1% - currently all Linux distros account for only 0.63% of web usage. While Linux has always stood as an alternative to Windows (and a free one at that), customers are showing a preference for the Mac. Whether this is down to clever (and funny) advertising or perceptions relating to security or ease of setting up and administering the OS, it's hard to tell, but something is definitely working for Apple. Price, it seems, is only a small part of the equation and if the Linux community is hoping that very-low-cost PCs will make the difference, it had better think again.

Side note: Before someone/everyone starts shouting at me that I've being anti-Linux again, I feel the need to point out that I think that Linux has a lot to offer computing at all levels, even consumer-level computing. Linux, if the goal is to embrace the PC owning masses, needs to adapt. Ubuntu is getting the idea, other distros are slower off the mark (and other distros are not aimed at the masses).

Now here's something else to ponder over - will the Mac OS hit 10% on the Net Applications charts by January 2009? At the current rate of growth it won't, but if growth picks up (maybe stimulated by more ads or price drops) then a gain of 2.7% over 12 months might be attainable. Personally, I think that Mac OS won't hit 10% until about July 09, but I could be wrong.

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