Windows 8 is not exactly Microsoft’s most smashingly successful product to date, but the operating system is on a pretty good growth trajectory and continues increasing its market share every month.
And the latest data from market research firms is showing that the OS keeps gaining traction.
Figures provided by StatCounter for the month of August confirm that Windows 8 is now the fourth most popular operating system in the world, just a smidgeon behind Mac OS X (all versions combined, quite obviously).
Windows 7, at this point in time, is still number one with numbers amounting to 51.96 percent.
The classic old Windows XP follows with 20.42 percent (in stark contrast to the Net Applications rankings of around 37 percent). Mac OS X takes up the third spot with 7.32 percent, and Windows 8 is hot on its heels with 6.89 percent worldwide market share.
Microsoft is quite confident that the share of Windows 8 is very likely to grow bigger in the coming months, as it gears up to unleash the first ever refresh of the platform.
Windows 8.1 is just around the corner, and if Redmond’s latest platform maintains its growth trend for a few more weeks than Windows 8 should easily land on the podium to become the third top operating system in the world in the next few weeks.
All Comments
I’m not surprised. I’ve been expecting that Windows 8 would hit 10% a lot faster than most people think. With XP support ending and 8.1 coming out leading into the holiday season, it will start to move even faster. Though I do think I trust Net Applications statistics more than StatCounter