Who Leads OS Share in Internet of Things Era?

For most business executives, "what has happened" never is as important as "what comes next?" That will be the case for operating system suppliers in the coming internet of things era, when a majority of connected devices are sensors, not devices used by humans.

So even if human internet device market share trends are clear, future OS trends are anything but clear. Still, in the area of human-used internet devices, an era has passed.

In March 2017, for the first time ever, Android passed the Microsoft operating system as the world’s most popular operating system (OS) in terms of total internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices combined, according to StatCounter.

In other words, a mobile operating system now has surpassed a desktop OS as the leading platform for internet devices. With the dramatic growth of smartphone users in Asia, that might not be too surprising.

source: GlobaWebIndex  

In 2016, says Ericsson, the Asia and Pacific region--exclusive of China and India--had the single largest regional mass of mobile subscribers. Add China and India and Asia represents more than half of all mobile accounts globally.

source: Ericsson

The next big shift could come sometime in the internet of things era, when the number of connected sensors is likely to far outstrip the number of human-used internet devices.

source: Ericsson.

Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and devices are expected to exceed mobile phones as the largest category of connected devices in 2018, growing at a 23 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2015 to 2021.

Ericsson predicts there will be a total of approximately 28 billion connected devices worldwide by 2021, with nearly 16 billion related to IoT.

Granted, you might argue the recent Android-Windows OS market share was a tie. In March of 2017, Android topped the worldwide OS internet usage market share with 37.93 percent usage, compared to Windows, with 37.91 percent share. Five years ago, Android had market share of about 2.4 percent, notes Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter.  

That noted, Microsoft Windows still dominates the worldwide operating system desktop market (PC and laptop) with a 84 percent internet usage share in March.

“Windows won the desktop war but the battlefield moved on,” said Cullen.

In substantial part, you can credit use of smartphones In Asia for Android’s global growth. In Asia, Android represents 52.2 percent of internet-using device operating systems,  compared to 29.2 percent share for Windows.

In other regions, Windows retains its lead. In North America Windows had 39.5 percent share in March, followed by iOS at 25.7 percent and Android at 21.2 percent.

In Europe, Windows had 51.7 percent, with Android at 23.6 percent.