OS X upgrade adoption rate half that of iOS

Data and Web traffic analysis company Chitika released a new report today, outlining the usage of various OS X versions in an analysis of the Web traffic generated by each. The report shows that since its release in October 2013,Mavericks has been adopted by 40 percent of the Mac user base.

This rate follows the application of Apple's iOS release model to OS X, by distributing it as a free upgrade for users. However, despite this move, by raw measure it appears the adoption rate of Mavericks is about half that, or even less, than iOS.

By comparison, in the first four months of its release, iOS 7 reached 80 percent of the iOS user base, whereas it has taken five months for Mavericks to be installed on 40 percent of the OS X user base.

While this may be interpreted as a relative interest difference in the two platforms, keep in mind that there is a difference that could boost the adoption rate in iOS over OS X.

Upgrades for iOS are pushed directly to iOS devices, whereas OS X users need to log into the Mac App Store and make a purchase (albeit, a free one) to perform their upgrades. Should Apple introduce a service in OS X to push new version installations with a simple confirmation, then perhaps the rate of adoption would be higher.

In addition, iOS devices have recently sold far faster than Mac systems, recently surpassing the 500 millionth device being sold. This may be due to the devices being relatively cheaper, in addition to filling the void for mobile computing, in comparison to a relatively saturated desktop computing market.

Either way, while iOS is taking off, and OS X is being adopted at a lesser rate, this news does show that Apple's new OS distribution schemes are making the latest versions of each the fastest growing of any released in the past.