More than one quarter of the visitors to U.S. government websites in the last three months have come by way of a Mac or iOS device, according to federal analytics data, underscoring just how much Apple has inserted itself into the lives of average Americans.
Nearly 17 percent of the 1.36 billion visits over that period were logged on iPhones or iPads, while 9 percent were on a Mac. Safari was the third-most popular browser, scoring a 20 percent share.
Microsoft's Windows continues to lead the way with 58 percent of visits originating on that platform, and Android is close on iOS's heels with 14 percent. Chrome — Â which runs on virtually every platform — Â is the most popular browser, followed by Internet Explorer.
The numbers come via the relatively new Digital Analytics Program, which provides unified analytics data to more than 300 government websites, including those run by the IRS, NASA, and the White House.
Apple's aggregate 26 percent share may not seem impressive on the surface, but it's a far cry from where the company was just eight years ago, before the introduction of the iPhone. In October 2006, the Mac's marketshare was just 6.1 percent, and the company had shipped less than one million Macs for the year.
At the end of 2014, marketshare had risen by just a couple of percentage points, but Apple shifted nearly 20 million Macs in the period — Â including 5.5 million in the fourth quarter alone.
Meanwhile, iOS's status as the second-most used platform reiterates the seismic shift from desktop to mobile, catalyzed in large part by the iPhone and iPad. Mobile device users now make up 33 percent of the federal government's web audience.
9 Comments
Did not know that Chrome was a popular as it is. Seems like Chrome would be around 40-50% of the Windows share.
I think that the stats should have been more broken down so that we could see some important trends.
What is the ratio of iOS users VS Android users signing up for Obamacare on govt sites?
What is the ratio of iOS users VS Android users visiting govt welfare sites?
I would like to see those stats.
Did not know that Chrome was a popular as it is. Seems like Chrome would be around 40-50% of the Windows share.
I'm glad to see Chrome as low as that. It's a terrible browser.
I access weather.gov on my iPhone and Mac daily. Best and most accurate weather out there. They just updated their web site to be a mobile site for browsers and if you save it to your iPhone screen, it's a contained web app.
As an aside, several years ago Republicans tried to shut weather.gov down on behalf of The Weather Channels' lobbyists. Democrats stopped them.
Did not know that Chrome was a popular as it is. Seems like Chrome would be around 40-50% of the Windows share.
I'm always surprised by how many of my Mac client/customers use Chrome. When asked why, the answer is usually, "Because it's faster." Interestingly though, these same Chrome users are usually the same folks who rail against Google as 'evil' because of Google's profiling and tracking behavior. I'm not sure what to say in cases like this? Seems to a Google <--> Chrome disconnect on the part of ordinary users that I don't get?