“Other than freaking out Microsoft, which continues to charge up to $199 for a copy of the latest version of Windows, making OS X Mavericks free was considered a sure way to encourage quick adoption by Mac users,” Gene Steinberg writes for The Tech Night Owl. “Indeed, for the first few weeks, it did appear that loads of Mac users had downloaded and installed the upgrade.”
“According to a published report, however, it does appear that the popularity of Mavericks may have hit the skids, while the user base of OS X Snow Leopard, circa 2009, remains reasonably constant at 19.5%,” Steinberg writes. “After hitting 32% in November, according to Net Applications, which tracks online traffic, Mavericks ‘merely’ increased to 37% in December. This, according to the article in question, must be a troublesome development. You see, some 22% of Mac users are still running Mountain Lion and 16.3% have stayed with Lion.”
“The article uses the dreaded ‘fragmentation’ word to create fear, but the numbers require a more linear analysis. You see, the rapid growth of Mavericks the first few weeks would largely have consisted of early adopters. The numbers in December likely consist largely of those who set up new Macs on which OS 10.9 was preloaded,” Steinberg writes. “The real question is how many of that 63% of remaining Mac users can actually upgrade to Mavericks.”
Much more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Sarah” for the heads up.]
Related article:
OS X Mavericks adoption slowed significantly in December – January 3, 2014