Research firm Net Applications posted market search numbers for December and it appears that the Mac platform has once again gained significant market share, probably helped by holiday sales.

According to the research firm, the Mac platform accounted for 7.31% of web clients during December, up from 6.8% last month. It is the second most used platform for Internet usage.

The iPhone is the fourth most used platform for Internet usage, just after Linux, the report reveals

These numbers do not exactly reflect Apple's current market share but actually the installed base as they are based on web usage rather than retail checks.

Meanwhile, Microsoft still represents 91.79% of web clients, slightly down from 92.42% last month.

The full report is available here.