It’s hard to believe, but I’ve worked with websites for almost three decades. It was so long ago that I started that I can’t remember much beyond having to ensure that everything worked on IBM Desktop machines and clones called IBM compatibles, both of which would have been running Windows software at the start of Mr Gates’ empire-building—this, of course, started a decade earlier when they provided the DOS software for the hardware manufacturer.

Apple computers were around at the same time, of course, but they were only used by around 10% of the market, mostly in academia and design studios. So sad to say, for commercial purposes, we didn’t tend to test websites on Macs as they were built on them!

Roll forward two decades, and the warring computer giants’ diverging strategies have impacted not just hardware and software but also the very Operating Systems (OS) that make our machines function.

Android software was first developed by Google, which put a spanner into Microsoft’s wheel as they were building dominance by embedding all manner of things beneficial to them with hardware sales – Google thought two could play that game and started giving away Android for use on all its devices. Today, Android is the dominant operating system used in the world as it is low-cost, effective, and increasingly robust, and it is being contributed to by all the major players, including Microsoft and Linux. It has around 40% market share in 2023.

Microsoft Windows is the next most significant player, having been knocked off the top spot some years earlier. Despite antitrust and other rulings, they’ve managed to maintain an impressive 30% share globally. They’re particularly aggressive in the USA and have recently gained a 10% share up to 38%, making them number one.

Apple comes in third place globally with a 17% share for the mobile operating system IOS and 9% for OS-MAC for computers, giving them 26% overall—a significant improvement from a few years ago. However, they dominate in the UK and the USA, with a 39% market share combined.

The runner-up platform is one of the newest, Chrome, also from Google. Given the success of Android, it’s perhaps surprising that this has only achieved 2% global usage, but it’s doing better Stateside at 5% market share by being bundled into devices.

Does all this matter?

We think, yes, it’s a great idea to test how your website performs on each central platform. Your web developers won’t like the extra hassle, but most can and will do it if you ask them – but make sure you pay a bit extra for the time and tools needed. Score well on each platform, and search engines like Google will reward you with improved visibility in your search results and positions because if they find it easier to access your content, so will your users. As your users are their users, keep them happy, and they will tend to keep you happy rather than penalise you.

In our experience, few developers these days test multi-OS, and they should. Google dominate commercial web traffic, and with two OS systems being directly under their influence, some might say control, it’s easy to see how improvements in Android and Chrome can improve your business however your new site performs on Windows machines or the web developers’ own Apple devices.

Stuart Haining
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