The first month of this new year has come to a close and its now time to take a look at how well Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system has fared in terms of market share for the month. According to new data from NetApplications, Windows 8 now holds a market share of 6.63%, while Windows 8.1 holds a share of 3.95%.
Compared to the previous month, Windows 8 went down by 0.02% in share, while Windows 8.1 went up from 3.60% to 3.95%. Microsoft rolled out the Windows 8.1 update on October 17th, which was a free update to Windows 8 users. So it comes as no surprise that we are beginning to see an increase in market share as the months go on.
Comparatively, Windows 7 continues to remain in the lead with a 47.49% share. Windows XP, which is set to reach its end of life in April, has a 29.23% market share. Windows Vista, on the other hand, still holds a 3.30% share.
Although we are seeing an increase in Windows 8.1 market share, it doesn’t change the fact that we are seeing a slight increase compared to the previous months. For example, In November of 2013, Windows 8.1 had a share of 2.64%. We saw a slow but steady increase to 3.60% as of December 2013. Now, we are at 3.95% for January 2014. Combined with Windows 8, we have a total market share of 10.58%.
