To some it might not be a big deal, but to most of us the choice of a browser does matter. Though Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been with us for a long time, but people are now trying their luck with the browsers offered by Google and some other companies as well.
Internet Explorer has been the most popular web browser for more than a decade now, but the results for October speak of its demise and rise of Chrome as the new king of Browsers after overtaking Firefox. Keeping in mind that IE have been earning majority market share since its advent, reaching its best as 95 percent share in 2004 and declining ever since.
Market share of desktop browsing is still held by Internet Explorer at a rate of 52.63 percent, though 1.76 points less than that in September. 94 percent of the web traffic is directed from desktop browsing and the rest is shared by tablets and smart phones; where Internet Explorer is unrepresented. However, If the market share of the whole browser market is analyzed, Internet Explorer is being used by 49.58 percent of the users only.
Last Month’s Statistics:
Firstly, it was Firefox who shadowed Internet Explorer, and now Chrome has taken the lead with winning statistics. In desktop browsing last month, Chrome has shown an increase of 1.42 points ending up with 17.62 percent market share, that of Firefox remained almost unchanged, Safari grew to 5.43 while Opera, keeping its consistency, has fallen with 0.11 points to 1.56 percent of the share.
Mobile Browsing:
Mobile browsing; mainly through Phones and tablets, makes up 5.5 percent of the total web browsing and is more volatile than its counterpart. That too is occupied by iOS users despite the fact that Android is ahead of it in sales. Trends as shown by mobile browsers are:
- Mobile safari taking the lead with 62.17 percent.
- Android browser has lost its users and dropped its share with 2.91 points ending up at 13.12 percent.
- Symbian, Blackberry and Opera mini also faced downfalls ending up with 2.55, 2.44 and 18.65 percent respectively.
Browser Up-gradation Statistics:
Statistics for the up gradation of browsers rhyme with those of overall browsing. With Chrome taking the lead as it is upgraded automatically and efficiently, thus users do not have to worry about it. The tail Chrome is being elongated by the users switching to it, with 14 percent of all still using some old versions.
Rapid release (4-9) and stable version (3.6) of the Firefox browser still have their separate shares. Users using rapid release are updating the browser with fast a pace but not as efficiently as with the Chrome where as there are still some who like to stick to version 3.6. The up gradation trend for Firefox won’t change till Mozilla releases a stable edition with long term support.
Internet Explorer users do not seem in the mood of upgrading to newer versions and the statistics show that version 6 and 7, though not current on any supported version of windows, still remain favorite of the 25.4 percent of IE users which makes them 13.38 percent of the desktop browsers as a whole. These users can upgrade to the latest version i.e. IE8 or IE9 but are abstaining from doing so. A slow rate of up gradation is found in the user of IE8 upgrading to IE9.
The unusual trend in the usage of browsers is a showcase of the influence of computer geeks on the trending Chrome and falling Internet Explorer.
Firefox offered new tabs, a wealth of extension and new developments for computer geeks to play around with and enjoy easy browsing which built its demographics. On the other hand Chrome, being under the Flagship Google, and showing better performance and stability with even more active development has won the votes of geeks. It also initiated obvious but useful additions to the browsers such as built in robust session restoration and a new tab page.
Mozilla is still trying to inculcate some features of Chrome into its Firefox (including easy up gradation) with some other advancement which are causing some headaches these days. But the market share graph of Firefox is constant and without any gradient.
Internet Explorer still retains its importance and probably will do so till some more years but until Microsoft works for influencing geek demographics, its graph is predicted to go more deeper down.
