Posts Tagged ‘IE’

Analysis - Microsoft came dangerously close to being split in several units during an antitrust case in which the company was battling 20 U.S. states between 1998 and 2001. Netscape was at the heart of the case and could have cost Bill Gates his lifetime achievement. Microsoft eventually prevailed – and now ends up swallowing Netscape in is entirety by acquiring 800 AOL patents, the majority of which were reportedly in Netscape possession before the acquisition of the company through AOL in 1998. While it remains unclear which patents were acquired and which were not, Microsoft most certainly got its hands on incredibly valuable rights to web browser technologies. Fate? Possibly. Business brilliance. Most certainly.

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.

Microsoft’s decision to begin updating Internet Explorer browsers to overcome update fatigue and a painstakingly slow upgrade rate is a major update for the browser. The company will introduce the feature in some geographies in January and scale it from there to be able to fend off Google’s Chrome.

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.

In the first half of November, Chrome continued to gain market share, while Firefox’ losses accelerate again. Microsoft’s marketing campaign to support Internet Explorer has shown some effect, but is weakening again. To stay relevant, Mozilla will now have to deliver new features such as bookmark migration, silent updates, the Android tablet UI, the home tab app and the new tab page on time.

The Internet is at war. In fact, the whole consumer market is actively engaging in many wars across many different levels. The thing is, while we know that there is a “browser war” going on out there, we find ourself wondering what exactly is going on. Who is actually fighting and how? We are all familiar with the “big 3” and I would even risk saying “big 5”: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Google’s Chrome Browser, Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and Opera’s Opera Browser. But what are they fighting for? Market share? Mozilla will tell you that they are fighting for the open web, and yet, no one else is. At the end of the day, regardless of the individual motives of the companies, this whole war is about who has the browser you should use.

Google’s Chrome web browser briefly exceeded Firefox market share last weekend by a miniscule margin. IE market share continue its decline and now averages less than 40% market share.

Google’s Chrome browser now owns the spot of the second most popular browser in two of seven continents.

Google is serious about the browser market. Its Chrome browser acquires more market share week by week. Both Microsoft and Mozilla are unable to stop their bleeding as IE has fallen below 39% share on individual days and Chrome is now just one point away from surpassing Firefox on weekends. If Google can maintain the momentum, Chrome will match Firefox market share by November.

Mozilla will need to find an effective way to limit its market share losses as its decline is exceeding the pace of IE and is hitting a double-digit rate over a 6 month period.

Aptiquant, a company that recently released a report that tries to correlate web browsers and the intelligence level of their users said that it has received tons of hate mail and even a threat of being sued by IE users. Oh, and there is one other noteworthy update.