More and More IT Experts and Developers Are Using Mac Devices
Web and software application developers and IT experts are blazing new trails in the use of Mac devices over Windows PCs, for work. They represent the greatest number of Mac users across all roles and departments in companies. In addition, Apple’s market share among these groups exceeds its general market share. Rather than being a mere coincidence, this fact is related to the specific properties of Apple computers.
Mac devices are continually gaining traction in the business world. While they were relatively rare finds in large corporations and small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) just a few years ago, today, more than half of all SMEs permit Mac devices to be used in the workplace. And Mac devices currently have a penetration of 23% in US enterprises.
Developers switching from Windows to Mac devices
Mac devices are not yet evenly distributed among all departments in enterprises. Certain departments tend to have a greater preference for Mac devices than others. Advertising and graphic design firms have traditionally been Apple strongholds. Over time, however, developers have become the most likely candidates to use Mac devices in the workplace. This can be explained by the UNIX structure on which OS X is based and the high-quality support provided by developer tools. According to a developer survey by Stackoverflow, 27.5% of all developers interviewed were using a Mac device for work in 2020. This is a persistent trend that has increased little by little over time. Back in 2015, this figure was just 21.5%. And yet, Windows remains the undisputed forerunner, with a share of 46%. Despite this, the use of Mac devices among developers is well above average–globally, Mac devices make up just 17% of all desktop computers.
If we focus exclusively on small- and medium-sized enterprises, it is obvious that IT specialists are, once again, the most frequent users of Mac devices. A study entitled “Mac Use in Small- to Medium-Sized Enterprises” found that Mac devices were being used in more than 50% of all IT departments. So why are Mac devices being used in enterprises? According to the survey respondents, the main plus points are security and performance. Regardless of brand and the primary operating system, 42% of all companies in the survey that use Mac devices also use desktop virtualization to run Windows and other desktop VMs on Mac computers–for Windows software or test environments, for example.
Which approaches do you use to make Windows applications available to your employees? Let us know in the comments.
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