We're talking two-hundredths of a percentage point in difference in a single month of a single company's analysis - and mostly due to the dominance of mobile devices over desktops in Asia, at that. Now, let's not kid ourselves: That language is pretty damn sensational. The company calls it a "milestone in technology history" and the "end of an era." StatCounter
The firm finds that for the first time ever, Android outperformed Microsoft's mega-giant - by a Clippy-sized hair - with 37.93% of measured global internet activity compared to Windows' 37.91% figure.
Maybe you've heard it by now: A fresh analysis from StatCounter finds Android has actually now surpassed Windows as the world's most popular operating system - mobile or otherwise - when it comes to global internet usage. The thrill is gone.īut wait! There's a new twist to this tired old horse race. Apple phones came in second, with 18%, and everyone else was basically a drop in the bucket.īlah blah, blahblahblahblahblah. According to Gartner's latest measurements, Android smartphones accounted for a whopping 81% of worldwide smartphone sales in the final quarter of 2016. These days, of course, Android is so far ahead of everyone else in mobile market share that you can barely even call it a race anymore. (Go and fetch me my slippers and some oatmeal, would ya?) Man, how things have changed - so much, in fact, that I sound like a senile grandpa when I talk about the "good ol' days" of Android's infancy, back when no one believed it could possibly take over the rose gold throne. It was laughable to even suggest that Google's meager mobile effort, still rough around the edges and with the clunky first-gen Droid as its only true breakout "hit," could ever come close to matching - let alone exceeding - the King's stronghold on smartphone shoppers. It's hard to think of Android as an underdog these days, but in its infancy - way back in the ancient era of 2008 to 2010 - those of us who dared to look past the platform's humble start and toward the bigger picture forming around it were treated like floundering fools on the virtual town square.īack then, you may recall, Apple was the King of Mobile™ - the seemingly untouchable and impeccably magical leader of the smartphone world.