Fresh statistics have been released into the wild by Net Applications for May 2011. Net Applications’ statistics are based on the activity of about 160 million visitors per month to Web sites using its services.
These are the latest figures on the performance of the Masters of the Universe of the Internet as far as web browsing is concerned.
- Internet Explorer: 54.27 – 55.11 = 0.84 percent.
- Firefox: 21.71 – 21.63 = 0.08 percent.
- Chrome: 12.52 – 11.94 = 0.58 percent.
- Safari: 7.28 – 7.15 = 0.13 percent.
- Opera: 2.03 – 2.14 = 0.11 percent.
- Others: 2.19 – 2.05 = 0.14 percent.
COMMENTS:
The month of May displayed no surprises. It was more of the same. Internet Explorer is leaking red ink all over the Internet. In May it lost 0.84 points equivalent to 1.5 percent. In whole numbers, it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if you consider the millions of IE’s users, this loss of market share represents a gargantuan deficit. Steve Ballmer doesn’t understand that web browsers are the conduit to connect users to the Cloud. Failing to attract users to its own proprietary browser means your company is dying a slow death. That’s why Microsoft and Google are so concerned about the popularity of their browsers, thus the web browsers war. Another problem with Microsoft, is the success of Apple’s iPad which doesn’t use Windows as its operating system. Most of the other main tablets are using Google Android avoiding Windows completely. That’s why Microsoft is rushing to adapt Windows to better support devices that can compete with Apple Inc’s iPad, which dominates the tablet market.
Global shipments of tablets—a segment consisting of media tablets like Apple Inc.’s iPad as well as PC-type tablets—are set to rise to 242.3 million units in 2015, up by a factor of more than 12 from 2010, new IHS iSuppli research indicates. Fifteen percent of all tablets will cannibalize the consumer PCs, reducing computer-sales growth by two percent annually between 2010 and 2015. It’s undisputed, that we’re before an obsession for tablet computing and Microsoft is not participating in the party. This means stormy weather ahead for Internet Explorer and Windows, both Microsoft’s darlings.
Prior to the introduction of the iPad in 2010, the tablet market represented a sleepy niche of the mobile PC market, with small volumes, negligible growth, and sales limited to small group of users in professional markets. Shipments of these PC-type tablets amounted to less than 2 million units in 2009. The arrival of the iPad changed all that, helping tablet sales surge by a factor of 10 in 2010.
The iPad’s huge head start both in unit share and ecosystem development will allow it to maintain its market dominance in 2011 and throughout most of 2012 despite the influx of competitors.
Google’s Chrome performed like an unstoppable train in May climbing 0.58 points while Mozilla’s Firefox inched upwards a meager 0.08 percent. It still holds fragile second place, but the gap between Firefox and Chrome is getting smaller and smaller. Google is also spearheading an effort to speed development of tablet-oriented content and the user interface for Android based devices. Obviously, Chrome is benefiting from the current boom of the tablet industry.
Apple Safari also did well in May. It gained 0.13 points stabilizing its solid fourth place in the global web browsers market share chart. It’s no secret that the popularity of the iPhone and the iPad are creating a Halo Effect to Apple Safari.
Norwegian Opera is struggling to keep browser’s users within its camp. In May its global market share went south 0.11 points. They are working hard trying very hard to reverse the trend, but so far they are having a hard time convincing browser’s users. Users are mesmerized with Chrome and Safari currently running on the ubiquitous tablets.
I feel that the wide variety of solution—and intense battle among operating systems and types of platforms—will continue to fuel the expansion of the tablet market in 2014 and 2015. The end result is that Chrome and Safari will continue to grow leaving Firefox and Internet Explorer biting the dust.
However, as we all know, anything can happen in technology. Black swans are not an extinct species.
Source: Top Browser Share Trend – Net Applications
