Mac OS usage share down worldwide, up in the US
Mac OS X's usage share might have dipped below 5% worldwide, but in the US it's doing really well, according to data gathered by NetMarketShare.
Worldwide, Mac OS X usage dipped to 4.98% during October. During September usage share was at 5.03%, while for August is was at 5.00%.
In the US though, things are looking up, with Mac OS X making gains, reaching 11.41% in October, up from 11.32% in September and 11.20% in August.
I don't tend to read too much into the numbers, but instead look at the overall trends, and here the trends are pretty clear. While Apple's worldwide usage share is in decline, market share in the US is very healthy indeed, and has comfortably broken double-digits.
Another interesting tidbit - iOS usage in the US (2.70%) is more than half that of Mac OS X usage worldwide (4.98%) ... iOS usage share now makes it a bigger player than Linux and Android combined.
The growing presence of Mac OS X on the internet is all the reason you need to install anti-virus on your Mac!
NetMarketShare uses data captured from the 160 million unique visitors browsing some 40,000 Web sites it monitors for clients.
[UPDATE: And curiously, Apple drops the price of the Mac mini outside the US. Coincidence?]