Mozilla has officially released a new version of its web browser, Firefox 5, for all platforms, including, Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. Firefox 5 is not so much about new features, but much more about the message that Mozilla is changing.
On the surface, there isn’t much Mozilla’s PR can pitch to advertise Firefox 5. 1000 fixed bugs? All right. Do not track for Android? Ok. CSS Animations? Nice. Added HTML5? Hmmh. Anything else? (Read more detailed coverage about the new features in one of our previous articles.)
There seems to be the general notion that Firefox 5 isn’t a big deal. When you install it, you won’t find a difference to Firefox 4, even if you look closely. To some, Firefox 5 does not even qualify as a face lift – and, in a normal environment, this release should have been labeled as a maintenance update. But we aren’t in a traditional environment anymore as features are not determining the release schedule anymore. Time does.
We should not be complaining. In the end, it is what the mainstream user wanted and what Google showcased with Chrome. Frequent releases provide the perception of a fresh browser. Of course, Google is much more aggressive and releases its browser, even developer and versions, in a much more visible way than Mozilla does. Firefox 5 is a big deal, as it will show whether the rapid release cycle model works for Mozilla – or not. Despite the fact that Firefox 4 has recorded well more than 225 million downloads, its market share has plummeted. Since its release, Firefox has lost its market leadership in Europe, and is showing declining market share overall, according to StatCounter. Globally, Firefox is now at about 28%, down from more than 31% just 6 months ago.
Firefox 5 is the first attempt to reverse this trend. It is also the first Firefox that is released in parallel with the mobile version of the browser (and the first major version that does not need a recalibration of Sync after its update anymore.) The next 6 weeks will be critical for Mozilla: Mozilla will have to quickly transition its users from Firefox 4 in order to avoid a terribly fragmented user base. It will be a major challenge for Mozilla, as almost Firefox 3.6 has almost 9% market share three months after the introduction of Firefox 4, while Firefox 4 failed to exceed the market share of the current Chrome version for the first time, according to StatCounter.
Google transitions more than 90% of its user base to a new browser version within 1 week. Mozilla will have to do the same.
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