iOS reaches 1.7% share of the web, Windows 7 hits 20%

Both iOS and Windows 7 were the winners for share of the web, Net Applications found in its December wrap-up. Thanks mostly to an equal mix of the iPad and iPhone, Apple's mobile platform reached 1.69 percent in December, up a relative 24.3 percent from a month earlier. Android's growth rate was faster, at about 29 percent, but its total 0.4 percent share widened the relative lead in web use.

Microsoft simultaneously reached a symbolic milestone on the desktop as just over a fifth, or 20.87 percent, of all web usage. However, most of the gain came almost exclusively at the expense of other versions of Windows, as Microsoft's overall Windows share was down to its lowest point ever, at a still high 90.29 percent. iOS was the only overall plaform to see a major gain in December, as the Mac, Linux and Java were near-flat.

Researchers didn't give a full explanation for the uptick, but gift giving during the holiday likely led to a large number of iPads and possibly iPhones going live after Christmas. Windows computers may also have been gifts in the period and helped people replace older systems using Windows XP.

In desktop web browsers, Internet Explorer kept on its years-long slide and reached a new low of 57.08 percent where Firefox, Chrome and Safari all made gains. Google's browser was the fastest mover and hit 9.98 percent, but Safari moved up briskly to 5.89 percent while Firefox bounced back slightly to 22.81 percent.