October 2013 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 7.53% while Windows 8.1 holds a share of 1.72%.
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 see a larger market share for Windows 8.1 this time around. As of October 2013, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 both account for a 9.25% combined share.
During the previous month, Windows 8 accounted for 8.02%. As of October, we see that Windows 8 is slowly dropping in market share as Windows 8.1 is seeing an increase. Of course, this is due to the Windows 8.1 update being released mid-October. We expect Windows 8.1’s share to be much higher next month.
On the other hand, Windows 7 has dropped to 46.42% in market share, yet is still the top Windows operating system. Windows XP retains its second place spot with a 31.24% share.