(Credit: Data from Net Applications, Chart by Stephen Shankland/CNET.)
As the Cloud becomes the universal depository of information, Web browsers are becoming essential information tools. People are increasing the use of their Web browsers over their computer hard disks. The computer desktop is no longer the sweet spot for savvy IT professionals. The trend is to substitute the hard disk with the Web. This is why the major Web browsers are in an intense race to become more stable, secure and fast. Speed is now a major factor to differentiate Web browsers.
Due to the decisive role of Web browsers, I keep a close watch of what is going on in this domain. Net Applications is the best place to search for information about the performance of these applications. Below are the latest statistics provided by Net Applications for the month of June 2010. Statistics represent percentages (%).
- Internet Explorer: 60.32
- Firefox: 23.81
- Chrome: 7.24
- Safari: 4.85
- Opera: 2.27
- Opera Mini: 0.66
- Other: 0.85
COMMENTS:
June was an excellent month for Microsoft. After a long period of drought, Internet Explorer finally reversed its downward trend. In June, its global market share increased 0.57 points—from 59.75 to 60.32. This hike occurred at the expense of Mozilla Firefox which lost .51 percent. The landmark of the 25 per cent market share seems like a distant mirage. Internet Explorer’s unexpected rebound was buoyed by increasing usage of IE8 that offset the decline in IE7–and by what Web developers no doubt hope will be only a temporary pause in the decline of the despised IE6.
Some of IE8′s gains probably can be ascribed to the growing use of Windows 7, which ships with that browser and is showing some signs of finally being a successor to Windows XP that people actually are embracing. Net Applications showed that the browsing usage of Windows 7 climbed from 12.7 percent to 13.7 percent from May to June; Windows Vista dropped from 15.2 percent to 14.7 percent; and Windows XP dropped from 62.6 percent to 62.4 percent.
Third-place Chrome climbed from 7.04 percent to 7.24 percent from May to June. Google is determined to back Chrome with its deep pockets in an effort to use it as a technological platform to run popular Cloud applications such as Google Mail, Google News, Google Docs and many other products accumulating in their digital warehouse. Google is working hard to diversify its profit generating activities from Google Search and Google Ads to Google Books, Google Music, Google Phone and other products following the successful path of Apple, the company with a Midas touch.
In fourth place, Apple’s Safari rose from 4.77 percent to 4.85 percent, and Opera slipped from 2.43 percent to 2.27 percent. With the launching of Apple’s iPad it’s expected that Safari should receive a strong push forward. I was surprised Opera slipped in June. Both, Opera for desktops and Opera Mini lost global market share in June. I can’t understand what happened with this innovative Norwegian software which was doing very well in the cellphone arena.
The browser battles are shifting in direction dramatically as mobile phones and devices such as the iPad extend Web usage well beyond PCs. And things are very different on mobile devices. Opera has years of experience on mobile devices, and indeed its Opera Mini version comes close to the regular computer version of Opera in terms of browser usage. Apple’s Safari works on iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches, and Apple at least partially bans other browsers.
Mozilla is working on a mobile version of Firefox for Android and high-end Nokia phones and just submitted a tool to the Apple App Store it hopes will keep the desktop version of Firefox in sync with Apple iOS-based browsers. Google lets other browsers on devices with the Android operating system, but it comes with a browser as well.
As you can see, there is never a dull moment in Web browsers territory and I couldn’t be happier. Let’s wait and see what July has in store for us. Good Day.
Source: Net Applications – Top Browsers Share Trend
