Apple's newest operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, accounted for more than 32 percent of all internet traffic originating from Apple computers in December, and is nearly doubling the growth seen previously by OS X 10.7 Lion, a recent study found.
Mac OS X version internet share for December 2012. | Source: Net Marketshare
Five months after rolling out, Apple's OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion has outstripped the monthly internet share of its predecessor OS X 10.7 Lion, reports web statistics firm Net Marketshare (via TechCrunch), a feat that took Lion nearly ten months to accomplish.
In November, Mountain Lion was nipping at the heels of Lion, both of which were in the 29 percentile range with a difference of only 0.49 percent. OS X Snow Leopard
Data for the intervening months since Mountain Lion was released in July show the OS accounting for a 24.7 percent internet share, third among Mac operating systems behind the installed base of Snow Leopard and Lion, which garnered a 31.62 percent share and 32.14 percent share, respectively.
With the requirement to have Lion running in order to install Mountain Lion, the data suggests a healthy upgrade cycle for many Mac users who either already have the latest OS or are primed to download it through the Mac App Store.
As for overall internet share in December, Microsoft's Windows is the clear leader with Windows 7's 45.11 percent share followed by a 39.08 share for Windows XP. Windows Vista continues to lose ground with 5.67 percent, but still managed to double Apple's Mountain Lion which accounted for a 2.27 percent share. OS X 10.7 Lion and 10.6 Snow Leopard trailed with roughly 2 percent each, while Windows 8 finished the month with a 1.72 percent share, just ahead of Linux machines.