Fresh statistics have been released into the wild by Net Applications for December 2012. 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 behemoths of the Internet as far as web browsing is concerned. Figures are expressed in terms of percentages.
- Internet Explorer: 54.77 – 54.76 = 0.01
- Firefox: 19.82 – 20.44 = 0.62
- Chrome: 18.04 – 17.24 = 0.80
- Safari: 5.24 – 5.33 = 0.09
- Opera: 1.71 – 1.67 = 0.04
- Others: 0.42 – 0.56 = 0.14 percent.
COMMENTS:
Lot of surprises during the last month of 2012. Microsoft Internet Explorer is stubbornly holding its ground. Was able to move a bit 0.01 percent global market share. It ain’t much, but it’s a move forward, and that is darned good. It shows that Steve Ballmer has a thick skin and can still pull a rabbit from his hat. Wonder how he will thrust Windows 8 forward; so far it has received a lukewarm reception from computer users. It’s honest to say that when all versions are taken into account, IE still leads the overall market with 54.77 percent of usage in December.
Mozilla’s Firefox is fighting tooth and nail to retain its fragile second place. It has been moving in a zig zag pattern. Up, then down, then up, then down and so forth. In December it went down in a big way. The Fox lost a walloping 0.62 percent last month. Ouch! that hurts. The Christmas lights didn’t do the trick. My gut feeling is that soon they will have to move to a third place ceding its position to robust Google Chrome.
Google Chrome clawed its way back in a big way; let me correct that, in a spectacular way. They escalated 0.80 percentage points in December which is huge, if you ask me. The growing trend is back again. They are heading north full speed ahead and will soon bump Firefox to third place. Google is also very active in the mobile phone arena where Android is rapidly becoming a favorite operating system for cellphones. The race in this category is red-hot with Google, Apple and Opera trying to take the lead. The sweet spot is in computing tablets where Apple is a front-runner candidate to nail down the gold, although Samsung is doing their job.
Apple Safari surprisingly lost 0.08 points. This was a complete and unexpected surprise for me. Maybe they lost their compass with the Maps app fiasco. Not even the recently launched Apple Mini could help Tim Cook mend the fence. However, truth be said, the acceptance of the iPad tablet worldwide is indisputable and this success should logically propel Safari forward. This means more Safari users and a better a market share position in the future.
