Posts Tagged ‘Firefox’

Given the success of Windows 7 with an initial October release date, it is unlikely that Microsoft will risk missing the Christmas shopping season as it did with Vista. It does not take much more than common sense to predict that Windows 8 will be released so Microsoft can take advantage of the busiest buying season of the year and hardware makers will be in tow to make sure there are enough hardware reasons to give Windows 8 the necessary support to get off the ground quickly. Software makers are making progress as well. Among the most notable ones: Mozilla.

Mozilla is ready to launch the 11th generation of its web browser on Tuesday – and it will bring the long awaited Chrome data migration toolset with it. It’s a first feature that goes much more directly after Chrome and is an attempt to regain users that were lost to Google’s browsers.

The second half of 2011 was, it seems, a recovery period for Mozilla’s Firefox team. After a prolonged Firefox 4 development period that caused Mozilla to miss the most critical evolutionary phase of web browsers since the defeat of Netscape, Firefox has been losing market share and there is doubt whether Firefox can rise again. An updated roadmap is the prescription to keep Firefox competitive.

January 2012 has been a remarkable month for the web browser as we know it. Those who closely follow the popularity of web browsers already know that Chrome has, according to StatCounter, surpassed Firefox in market share in November 2011, thus rearranging the rules of the browser game and turning it, for now, into a two-horse race. Now, Chrome is beginning to approach IE in most regions around the globe and has reduced its distance to IE, on one day, to less than four percentage points. If the current trend, which has lasted for more than 3 years, continues, then Google will surpass IE within 3 months.

Chrome ended 2011 with 42.50% market share gain for the year and the highest monthly market share growth in its history, according to data released by StatCounter. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was the only browser to lose market share, but slightly slowed its losses over 2010. Firefox had a tough year with a loss that more than quadrupled over 2010.

Analysis – Google is rumored to be paying at least $1 billion in advertising revenue, or royalties, depending on your view, to Mozilla over the next three years. This investment may seem over the top, especially since Mozilla has seen its market position weaken in 2011 and since we have seen plenty of public Mozilla firing poisoned darts in the direction of Google’s Chrome team. However, even at a billion dollars, it’s a good idea for Google to have Mozilla on its side. It appears that Mozilla has played its cards very well.

Mozilla announced that it has signed a “significant and mutually beneficial revenue agreement with Google”, which ends speculation that Google could possibly be moving on and not support Mozilla via the browser’s search box and the integrated default Google search anymore.

Mozilla can use all the support it can get at this point. Both Google and Microsoft are being focused on their future platforms, but there has been little reported news this week about the developer preview of Mozilla (Labs) Apps, which provides a first glimpse at Mozilla’s view of an open apps platform for the web. A detail of Mozilla Apps is an opportunity for Mozilla to follow Google into the entertainment and, specifically, in the game market.

As I stumbled over a note from Mozilla’s developer staff today, I wondered how much impact feature delays in a rapid release process really have and whether delays in a 6-week release cycle matter or not? Firefox could use some good news, but there is not much that could cause some optimism in the near future. Nearly every major feature the browser could use today is delayed and the browser that Mozilla would need today won’t be available until the end of April.

It did not take much to turn the world against Firefox. Just one Internet analysis firm that has, admittedly, the most comprehensive, publicly available data set on browser market shares available, released data, which indicates that Firefox has been surpassed by Chrome in popularity. It was enough to serve as a foundation for an Internet broadside against the browser that, not too long ago, carried the mind share of innovation in Internet software. Suddenly we are asking questions and wondering if Firefox can “survive” or if it is “toast”. The second salvo came today when reports questioning the state of negotiations of Mozilla’s royalties with Google surfaced. Does Google still need Mozilla? And if it does not, who needs Mozilla anyway? Do you?

Analysis – It’s the first of the month and it’s market share day again. Of course, the big news isn’t such big news, if you have been following us for awhile. Chrome has surpassed Firefox in market share in November and is taking big steps toward IE, which it may reach by Q3 2012. For Mozilla, it isn’t such a surprise either, but the result of a series of mistakes as well as Google’s much greater capability to advertise and push the adoption of its browser. Food for thought.

Mozilla released the first native UI builds for Firefox Mobile on its Nightly channel. Nightly users will get the update next Tuesday, but the current browser version is far from being usable on some Android devices.