Dive Brief:

• Google’s Android has overtaken Microsoft Windows for the first time as the world’s most popular operating system (OS), according to web analytics company StatCounter. The organization looked at total internet usage across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile combined. 

• Last month, Android led the worldwide OS internet usage market share with 37.93%, putting it just slightly ahead of Windows, which had 37.91% market share.   

• "This is a milestone in technology history and the end of an era," said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter in a announcement. "It marks the end of Microsoft’s leadership worldwide of the OS market which it has held since the 1980s. It also represents a major breakthrough for Android, which held just 2.4% of global internet usage share only five years ago."

Dive Insight:

The proliferation of smartphones is largely responsible for Android’s huge growth. Android is the most popular mobile operating system by far and the prevalence of smartphones has increased dramatically in recent years.

At the same time, consumers are buying and using PCs less, so Microsoft’s OS use slowed a bit. Still, the two operating systems are essentially neck and neck today. But while Microsoft's OS use has declined since March 2012, Android usage has steadily increased. 

Though Android may rule in the mobile world, Microsoft is still dominant in the business world where PCs and laptops remain the primary productivity tools. Among the desktop market, Windows had a 84% internet usage share in March.