Google’s Android has overtaken Microsoft Windows as the world’s most popular operating system.
The landmark moment happened in March, according to web analytics company StatCounter, and was calculated in terms of total internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile combined.
The analytics company said that last month, Android topped the worldwide OS internet usage market share with 37.93%, putting it marginally ahead of Windows (37.91%) for the first time ever.
StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen said: “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% of global internet usage share only five years ago.”
This shift was the result of a decline in sales of traditional PCs, the impact of Asia on the global market and the massive growth of smartphones, Cullen said.
Despite the change, Microsoft still dominates the desktop OS market with 84% of the market share.
“Windows won the desktop war but the battlefield moved on. It will be difficult for Microsoft to make inroads in mobile but the next paradigm shift might give it the opportunity to regain dominance,” Cullen said.
“That could be in Augmented Reality, AI, Voice or Continuum (a product that aims to replace a desktop and smartphone with a single Microsoft powered phone).”
Read more here.