Dubai
Google’s Android has overtaken Microsoft Windows for the first time as the world’s most popular operating system in the UAE and globally, in terms of total internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile combined.
According to StatCounter, Android topped the list in the UAE with 36.18 per cent compared to Windows at 35.74 per cent in March.
Globally, Android had 37.93 per cent during the same period, marginally ahead of Windows at 37.91 per cent.
Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter, said that this is a milestone in technology history and the end of an era.
“It marks the end of Microsoft’s leadership worldwide of the OS market which it has held since the 1980s. It also represents a major breakthrough for Android which held just 2.4 per cent of global internet usage share only five years ago,” he said.
Cullen said that main drivers of the breakthrough were growth of smartphones to access the internet, a decline in sales of traditional PCs and the impact of Asia on the global market.
Cullen said the idea of Android overtaking Windows would have been unthinkable five years ago. In January 2012, Windows held 82 per cent global internet usage share compared to just 2.2 per cent for Android.
However, Windows still dominates the worldwide desktop operating system market (PC and laptop) with an 84 per cent internet usage share in March while in the UAE, it is 83.89 per cent.
“Windows has won the desktop war but the battlefield has moved on,” Cullen said.
He said that it will be difficult for Microsoft to make inroads in mobile but the next paradigm shift might give it the opportunity to regain dominance. That could be in Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Voice or Continuum (a product that aims to replace a desktop and smartphone with a single Microsoft powered phone).
“Windows 10 will need to maintain momentum in order to combat the steady march of Android across all markets,” Cullen said.
