Preliminary figures released by Net Applications, on January 1, indicate that Apple's overall share of the Web traffic in December was slightly over 10 percent - which is a record expansion in terms of Web experience. However, Windows continued with its majority share, accounting for an enviable 88.68 percent of Web hits.

Net Applications' findings are based on the data it accumulates from 160 million monthly visitors to its network of hosted Web site statistics. Describing its results as "market shares," Net Applications provides a reliable methodology for determining browser and operating system trends.

Without doubt, Mac operating system made a stronger showing among Web users in the month of December. It recorded 9.63 percent of hits - as against 9 percent in November - which is up nearly 32 percent from December 2007 figures.

Even more remarkable have been the gains from iPhone, with its record 0.44 percent Web traffic indicating almost 19 percent increase. Its share rose more than three-and-half times from its last year's share of 0.12 percent.

In addition, the strong holiday sales of the iPod possibly resulted from users checking it out on the net - the iPod's share reached 0.08 percent, which is up 37 percent from last month's figures of 0.05 percent.

According to the Fortune account, "Hidden in these monthly figures are the sharp spikes recorded by Apple's mobile devices around the holidays."