Apple Mac users upgrading to new Mavericks OS X at a record pace?

More than three times as many users were reportedly surfing the Web with Mavericks OS X on the first day of its release than those who did so with its predecessor, Mountain Lion OS X.
In just 24 hours, users who downloaded and installed Apple’s new operating system were accounting for 5.5% of U.S. and Canada Web traffic coming from Mac desktops and laptops, according to third-party firm Chitika, which tracks such figures through its ad network.

That’s a stunning number and could indicate that users are downloading and installing Apple’s latest operating system at a record pace. Apple made Mavericks OS X available for download on Tuesday.

By comparison, Mountain Lion OS X accounted for just 1.6% of U.S. and Canada Web traffic 24 hours after it was released last year, according to Chitika.

PHOTOS: Top 10 Apple Mavericks OS X features to check out

Every year, Apple users adopt the company’s latest software at faster rates, but this year the adoption may have been boosted by Apple’s decision not to charge for Mavericks OS X. It’s the first time Apple has released a new Mac operating system for free.

“While Mountain Lion wasn’t particularly expensive ($19.99), it’s likely the lack of a price tag on Mavericks spurred additional users to upgrade in the early going,” the Chitika report said.

Over the past few years, Apple has been lowering the price of OS X with each new version. It also stopped charging for iOS -- its mobile operating system -- a few years ago, so the company’s decision to make Mavericks OS X free isn’t too surprising.

Though Apple will no longer make any money from its new OS X iterations, it will help ensure that most of its users are on the latest versions of its software and likely gain goodwill with them during the process.

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