Flash Player is the most ubiquitous Platform available

In the past, I’ve voiced that the non-pervasiveness of Flash (rather an average user’s ability to install plug-ins) is one reason website designers should consider before going for Flash. I officially scrap that as a point no longer valid.

Millward Brown, one of the world’s leading market research agencies, recently closed a survey commissioned by Adobe Systems, Inc. with a goal “to track and compare Plug-In technology used to view content on the web.” This study, conducted quarterly, placed Adobe Flash Player at a comfortable 99% as the most pervasive software platform. Java (85%), Microsoft Windows Media Player (79.3%), Apple QuickTime Player (65.5%) and Adobe Shockwave Player (59.2%) round up the top five. The maximum margin of error was reportedly +/-6%.

Pervasiveness, or penetration, is defined based on the presence of a platform on Internet-enabled desktops in mature markets (US, UK, Canada, France, Germany and Japan). The study has results from countries like mainland China, South Korea, Russia, India, and Taiwan as well. However, nothing explicit was mentioned about Philippines, Brazil and Romania which according to my latest trend check are among the top 9 regions searching for RIA technologies.

To me, the biggest surprise is the high position of QuickTime. Can anybody explain it?

Visit the methodology page for in-depth details about the study, and the version penetration page for statistics by version.