Google Chrome Now the No. 1 Browser in the World

Google Chrome Now the No. 1 Browser in the World
21/05/2012 by Peter Pachal on Mashable

Google’s Chrome web browser just passed Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to become the most-used browser in the world, says the latest data from a digital analytics service.

Although Chrome has edged out IE before for short periods, the last week marks the first time Chrome was the No. 1 browser for a sustained period of one week. Exactly 31.88% of the world’s web traffic was done on Chrome, according to StatCounter, while IE is a close second at 31.47%.

Although the difference is slight, Chrome has been trending up for some time, while IE has been trending down. IE is still the top browser in many regions, including North America, but Chrome is extremely popular in both India and South America — the latter being a region where Google’s Orkut social network also has significant market share.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Browser Market Share

IE is still king in most other regions, though, for obvious reasons: It’s the default web browser for Windows machines, which still constitute about 90% of the world’s computers. Tech-savvy Internet users tend to prefer Chrome, however, due to its minimal user interface and loading speed.

The browser trends are expected to continue at least until the general release of Internet Explorer 10 later this year. IE10 is tied to the launch of Windows 8, and it may introduce a wild card into the browser game.

While the desktop version of Windows 8 will support third-party browsers just like Windows has in the past, there’s some question whether certain Windows tablets will limit their functionality, in effect forcing users toward using IE10 if they want the abilities of a full web browser.


While StatCounter’s numbers, which are based on page-view data on 3 million websites, are often seen as a reliable barometer on browser popularity, other services that look at unique visitors to determine market share tell a different story. The most recent numbers from Net Applications, for example, show IE with a commanding lead of 54% to Chrome’s 19%. Mozilla Firefox is slightly more popular, at 20%.

Which data do you think is more reliable? Have your say in the comments.





Source: Mashable

Internet Explorer Still on Top, But Chrome Is Winning the Browser War

Chrome up big, IE and Firefox decline in 2011's browser marketshare battle

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still the world’s most popular browser, but it and Mozilla’s Firefox lost a lot of market share to Google’s Chrome in 2011, which is now firmly in second place.

According to StatCounter’s 2011 data, Internet Explorer currently has a 39% market share, Chrome is at 27%, while Firefox holds 25% of the market.

Safari and Opera follow with 6% and 2% market share, respectively.

These numbers alone don’t tell the whole story, however. Internet Explorer started 2011 with a 46% share of the market, and Firefox was over 30%. Both browsers steadily lost their share throughout the year, and almost all of it went to Chrome, which is clearly the year’s biggest gainer.

Net Applications’ numbers for 2011 are very different, with Internet Explorer having a much bigger lead (52%), but the trends are similar: Chrome was the only clear winner in 2011, having jumped from 10% to 19% market share.

Interestingly, Net Applications sees Firefox’ current market share almost exactly where it started 2011: at 22%.

Regardless of whose number you believe, it seems that Chrome is on a roll, and its steep upward trajectory shows that other browser makers should take notice. Otherwise, we may have a new king of the browser market in a year or two.

Microsoft's official Windows blog was happy to trumpet Net Applications' latest browser marketshare numbers, which show that Internet Explorer 9's share is up to over 25 percent on computers running Windows 7. That's some clever and unsurprising data selection, but looking across all desktop platforms over the course of the year shows a very different picture. When you look at the absolute numbers, IE is still the king (browser share of 52 percent from Net Applications and 39 percent from StatCounter), but its marketshare has declined all year long, despite the introduction of IE9. Chrome, on the other hand, experienced 84 percent growth year-over-year, far beyond any other browser on the market. It now sits at 27 percent according to StatCounter or 22 percent if you ask Net Applications.

Firefox also had a tough year, as its marketshare slowly but surely dipped — depending on who you ask, its lead over Chrome has evaporated. StatCounter shows Chrome solidly in 2nd place, ahead of Firefox's 25 percent share; Net Applications shows Firefox hanging on over Chrome at 22 percent. While we felt like StatCounter jumped the gun a little last month when it announced Chrome as the 2nd place browser, it appears the browser's momentum isn't slowing down any time soon.

Image source: Net Applications

• VIAPC WORLD, THE WINDOWS BLOG
• SOURCENET APPLICATIONS, STATCOUNTER