OS X Yosemite Developer Preview usage 4x greater than Mavericks

Yosemite adoption (Chitika 001)

Adoption rates of the OS X Yosemite Developer Preview are smashing records with four times greater usage than its predecessor, OS X Mavericks. Developers’ striking interest in the software is evidenced by usage stats web analytics firm Chitika provided Wednesday.

According to data, adoption figures of the Yosemite betas in North America have significantly outpaced those of OS X Mavericks, by as much as a factor of four.

Early adopters have helped OS X Yosemite Developer Preview hit 0.20 percent of total U.S. and Canadian web traffic originating from Mac OS X. By comparison, the OS X Mavericks Developer Preview was only able to hit a meager 0.05 percent mark after 30 days…

The data is based on hundreds of millions of ad impressions across Chitika’s ad network in the United States and Canada.

In a nutshell, Chitika argues that Yosemite’s adoption rates – once the software gets released for public consumption this Fall – will eventually beat figures by any other previous Mac desktop operating systems.

The increased level of aggregate activity for Yosemite is likely partially driven by the prominent changes present in this OS version fueling a higher degree of developer curiosity and experimentation.

The changes to Safari in particular may be prompting a greater amount of Web usage from current users in terms of testing and customization.

The spikes seen on the chart top of post relate to Apple’s release of OS X Yosemite Developer Preview editions.

And here’s a look at the OS X ecosystem:

OS X verson distribution (Chitika 001)

As you can see, the nine-year old OS X Tiger still generates more web traffic than Yosemite.

Also, Mavericks’ share has increased by six percentage points to 45.7 percent since Chitika’s study in March 2014, with Lion and Mountain Lion usage share shrinking over the same time frame.

At any rate, Chitika’s findings don’t surprise me.

With some major new features like Continuity/Handoff and a subtle yet major visual overhaul that brings the Mac experience in line with the minimalist iOS concepts, it’s expected that Apple’s registered developers would rush to check out the latest goodies.

OS X Yosemite (dark mode, Hamza Sood 001)

Yosemite’s usage numbers should receive another boost based on Monday’s release of the third Developer Preview edition year.

Another reason for Yosemite’s 4x greater usage figures: for the first time ever, Apple gave developers free access to the Yosemite beta. Previously, only programmers on Apple’s $99 a year Mac Developer Program were allowed to download OS X betas.

Let’s not forget that average Joes who registered for Apple’s OS X Beta Program will soon – in another “first” move – be able to download and install Yosemite betas, so expect usage stats to grow by a million new users as a result.