Mac usage slipping?

Globally Mac OS usage has fallen and has been doing so for the past few months, according to a report from Net Market Share.

Data from the firm revealed Mac usage market share - based on web use - dropped below five per cent in October, whilst Windows took over 91 per cent.

However, Apple will no doubt be pleased to hear iOS usage share was almost five times that of closest mobile rival Android.

While Google's mobile OS took 0.27 per cent of all OS market share, iOS was the third most used operating system in October with 1.26 per cent.

Indeed, iOS came out above the Java ME mobile platform in fourth and Linux in fifth.

Furthermore, despite the global drop, in the US Mac OS web usage saw a rise from 11.2 per cent market share in August, and 11.32 per cent in September, to hit 11.41 per cent in October.

As noted, the figures are solely based on web usage on the different operating systems so do not provide an entirely accurate picture of overall usage.

Nonetheless, the data offers a telling sign the Mac OS is not even close to taking on Windows in terms of worldwide reach and is not significantly dominant over other operating systems.

Apple took a hit last month as it revealed it had sold 4.19 million iPads in the fiscal fourth quarter when the market was expecting more.

Subsequently, shares of Apple fell six per cent in after-hours trading.

Analysts have predicted, however, that sales should spike during the holiday quarter as Apple gets a grip on supply issues which were thought to have hampered previous iPad sales.