David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
I've seen several articles recently proclaiming loudly that Google's Chrome browser has taken over the number three spot from Safari (e.g., Google Chrome is Now the No. 3 Browser | Search Engine Journal).
One would think this were a huge accomplishment from all the excitement. But in reality, beating out Safari, the Apple browser, is a small accomplishment, given that it has never had more than 5% market share, especially since this follows the recent release of the Apple version of Google Chrome.
Here is the way the statistics stack up currently, according to Net Applications’ web browser usage data for December:
Browser | Percent of Market
Microsoft Internet Explorer | 62.69%
Firefox | 24.61%
Google Chrome | 4.63%
Apple Safari | 4.46%
Opera | 2.40%
Opera Mini (mobile browser) | 0.53%
Other | 0.63%
After all the furious negative publicity over the past 5 years, Internet Explorer still has two-thirds of the market, although that is a slip from 80-90% before Firefox was introduced. Meanwhile, Firefox has risen to approximately one quarter of the market.
So what this all boils down to is that Google Chrome now has about a thundering third of the one-eighth market share left over after Internet Explorer and Firefox have taken their cuts.
That wouldn't seem to me to be a reason for breaking out the champagne just yet.
One would think this were a huge accomplishment from all the excitement. But in reality, beating out Safari, the Apple browser, is a small accomplishment, given that it has never had more than 5% market share, especially since this follows the recent release of the Apple version of Google Chrome.
Here is the way the statistics stack up currently, according to Net Applications’ web browser usage data for December:
Microsoft Internet Explorer | 62.69%
Firefox | 24.61%
Google Chrome | 4.63%
Apple Safari | 4.46%
Opera | 2.40%
Opera Mini (mobile browser) | 0.53%
Other | 0.63%
After all the furious negative publicity over the past 5 years, Internet Explorer still has two-thirds of the market, although that is a slip from 80-90% before Firefox was introduced. Meanwhile, Firefox has risen to approximately one quarter of the market.
So what this all boils down to is that Google Chrome now has about a thundering third of the one-eighth market share left over after Internet Explorer and Firefox have taken their cuts.
That wouldn't seem to me to be a reason for breaking out the champagne just yet.
