Google’s Android platform and Apple’s iOS regained mobile operating system market share last month after both mobile platforms curiously showed declines in December. Analytics firm Net Applications on Wednesday released mobile phone and tablet operating system share data for January 2012, and the new numbers suggest that Android showed the biggest gains last month. Google’s mobile OS remained in the No.3 spot while rising to an 18.12% share from 16.15% in December, while Apple’s iOS rose to 53.65% from 52.10% a month earlier. RIM’s BlackBerry OS showed gains in December but the platform’s OS share fell to 2.59% in January, its lowest point since October 2011. Java ME retained its No.2 position despite sliding to 19.19% from 21.27% last month, and Symbian dropped half a point to represent 5.20% of the mobile OS market. A chart outlining Net Applications’s data follows below.

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Google’s Chrome web browser surpassed Mozilla’s Firefox in global browser market share for the first time ever in November. Research firm StatCounter found that Chrome’s market share during the month was 25.69%, up 4.66% from last November, and that Firefox’s share was a hair lower at 25.33% during the month. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer maintained its lead with 40.63%. ”Our stats measure actual browser usage, not downloads, so while Chrome has been highly effective in ensuring downloads our stats show that people are actually using it to access the web also,” StatCounter CEO Aodjan Cullen said. Internet Explorer remains the top browser in the United States with a 50.66% share. Firefox is the second most popular browser in the U.S. with a 20.09% share, down from 26.75% in November last year, and Chrome is the third most popular browser with a 17.3% share, up from 10.89% last year. Net Applications, another research firm, published similar results on Thursday. By its numbers, Internet Explorer had a 52.64% share in November, followed by Firefox (22.14%), Chrome (18.18%) and Safari (5%). StatCounter’s full press release follows after the break. 

Chrome Overtakes Firefox Globally for First Time

Free web analytics company reports that Internet Explorer still leads despite falling market share

Boston, USA; Dublin, Ireland; Thursday, 1st December, 2011: Google’s browser Chrome overtook Firefox for the first time globally on a monthly basis in November, according to StatCounter, the free website analytics company. The firm’s research arm StatCounter Global Statsreports that Chrome took 25.69% of the worldwide market (up from 4.66% in November 2009) compared to Firefox’s 25.23%. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still maintains a strong lead globally with 40.63%.

“We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. “Our stats measure actual browser usage, not downloads, so while Chrome has been highly effective in ensuring downloads our stats show that people are actually using it to access the web also.”

In the US Internet Explorer continues to perform strongly and is maintaining market share at 50.66%, up slightly from 50.24% year on year. Firefox retains second place on 20.09%, down from 26.75%. Chrome is up to 17.3% from 10.89%. Safari is on 10.76% from 10.71%.

In the UK, Internet Explorer also leads the market with 42.82%. Chrome is on 24.82%, having overtaken Firefox (20.56%) in July. (For other individual country or regional analysis see StatCounter Global Stats).

StatCounter Global Stats are based on aggregate data collected on a sample exceeding 15 billion page views per month (4 billion from the US) from the StatCounter network of more than three million websites.

As well as free web research, StatCounter (http://statcounter.com/) provides free website traffic analysis. This allows website owners, developers and bloggers to capture valuable intelligence on their site in real time including number of visitors, visitors by country/region, search terms, popular pages, download stats, exit links and other data.

In September StatCounter announced its new website with added features.

Read [Net Applications]

Apple’s iOS platform and Google’s Android operating system both lost usage share in November as BlackBerry and Symbian showed gains. Analytics firm Net Applications on Thursday published its operating system market share data for the month of November, and momentum has shifted quite a bit compared to October. IOS slid more than seven points to drop to a 54% share in November, and Android shed two points to fall to 17%. Android also slipped out of the No.2 spot it claimed from Java ME in October as the feature phone platform jumped seven points to a 20% share last month. RIM’s BlackBerry platform ticked up to 3% and Symbian usage gained a point and a half to hit 5%. Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform didn’t even register 1% on Net Applications’s radar. A graph outlining November’s smartphone and tablet platform market share by usage follows below.

Just-released data from Net Applications shows that Microsoft’s share of the PC operating system market continued its slow decent in October as Apple’s Mac operating system and Linux both showed narrow gains. While Windows is still the overwhelming market leader among desktop operating systems, the platform slid from a 92.44% share in September to a 91.86% share last month. Over the same period, Apple’s Mac OS climbed from 6.45% to 6.94% while Linux inched up from 1.11% in September to 1.19% in October. Microsoft’s share of the computer OS market is expected to continue its slow decent until the second half of 2012, when it is expected to launch its next-generation Windows 8 operating system that marries a full-blown desktop OS with a light-weight mobile platform for tablets and other emerging devices. A chart illustrating October desktop operating system market share data from Net Applications follows below.

Propelled by the popularity of its iPad tablet and the successful launch of the latest iPhone, Apple’s share of the mobile operating system market jumped significantly in October. Apple’s iOS saw just 1.6% growth between August and September of this year according to Net Applications, as iPhone sales slowed in anticipation of a new model in October. That new model, the iPhone 4S, sold more than 4 million units during its opening weekend alone, causing Apple’s cell phone and tablet operating system share to balloon to 61.64% of the global market in October, up 7% from 54.65% in September. Read on for more.

Apple’s iOS wasn’t the only platform to see impressive growth in October. According to Net Applications, Google’s Android platform overtook Java ME by a huge margin to take the No. 2 spot globally. Android’s market share grew from 16.26% in September to 18.90% in October while Java ME dropped from 18.52% to 12.84% over the same period.

Net Applications’ October data also shows that the Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile/Windows Phone platforms lost share in October. Symbian dipped to 3.48% from 6.12%, RIM’s BlackBerry OS slid to 2.48% from 3.29% and Microsoft’s mobile share dropped to 0.20% from 0.27% in September.

A recent report from Net Applications suggests that Apple’s iOS and Mac OS X operating systems both achieved a record high global market shares during the month of September. iOS had a global market share of 54.65% for the month, up from the 53.04% grip it had on the market in August. iOS is trailed by Java ME with an 18.52% market share, Android (16.25%)  Symbian (6.12%) and BlackBerry (3.29%). Mac OS X reached a record high 6.45% share of the operating system market during September, up from 6.03% in August, which is dominated by Microsoft’s Windows (92.44%). Linux has a fraction of the market with a small 1.11% piece of the pie. Apple is expected to take the wraps off of its next iPhone during a press conference in Cupertino on October 4th, and we’ll be reporting all the news as it breaks.

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