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Internet Explorer market share falling like a ton of bricks
Last month, research firm NetApplications reported that Microsoft's share of the web browser market had dropped to 69.77%. Today the number is down to 67.55%. Google Chrome use has apparently picked up a bit, although the browser still has just over 1% of the market. And Firefox continues to pick up new users every month. The browser now represents over 21% of the market. But one of the most interesting factors is the rise of Apple's Safari web browser, which is now used by more than 8% of computer users.
In other words, part of the reason Microsoft is losing its share of the browser market is because there's another company doing exactly the same thing Microsoft does: bundling a web browser with a popular operating system. When I wrote last month that the EU was considering forcing Microsoft to unbundle Internet Explorer from Windows as an antitrus measure, many commenters asked why Apple didn't have to do the same thing with Safari. Perhaps as the market share of OS X and Safari continues to grow, we could see regulators taking a closer look at Apple as well.
[via ReadWriteWeb]
Comments
26
Subscribe to commentsJamesFeb 3rd 2009 9:39AM
The reason Apple gets away with it is they don't take advantage of a monopoly (which they don't have to begin with).
Having a monopoly isn't illegal. Taking advantage of it by preventing competition through your position is.
nicbotFeb 3rd 2009 12:31PM
I don't see how current Windows takes advantage of a monopoly. It seems all this MS "browser" hate is founded on the XP and IE 6 era. As of Vista (over 2 years ago) this seems not to apply. I could be wrong in my summation, but you haters need to get with the times.
As for Apple...careful with your claims. Apple is far from innocent in the competition prevention genre...To avoid further flamez I elect to not elaborate ;)
grumpyFeb 4th 2009 7:34AM
"As a developer standpoint, I can't wait for IE8 as it will finally fully support web standards"
lol, you're in for a disappointment.
I think what you meant to say is that IE8 will finally stop making a joke out of CSS. That doesn't mean CSS will be fully or correctly supported. Just that it'll be a lot less crippled than it were.
But of course, CSS is not the only relevant web standard. Last I heard, IE8 still didn't understand a peep of XHTML.
My biggest hope for IE8 is that it helps make people used to the idea that browsers can be swapped out. IE has its huge marketshare because most people don't consider it an app you can choose to use, but rather as a built-in part of the OS. Every time Microsoft tells users to download a new version of IE, they're reminded that "hey, this browser thing can be replaced. I wonder what else is out there".
NeoprimalFeb 4th 2009 7:39AM
I think one of the reasons that FF is seeing a rise is that it's bundled with just about every 'home geared' distribution of linux....so for example, versions I consider home geared are ubuntu and fedora core, suse, mandriva, etc. Notwithstanding the fact that there's been a 'netbook' "boom" and all netbooks shipped with a linux variant has FF bundled.
Safari's rise is quite obviously due to the fact that just about everyone who uses ATT has an Iphone (exag., but you know what I mean), and that the browser it runs identifies itself as the same Safari run in OSX. So, that's no surprise.
If MS wants to regain some of that share back, all it has to do ship IE8 with Windows Mobile 6.5....though no real competition for the Iphone, there are quite a few fans of the WM platform.
RhysFeb 8th 2009 9:06AM
Sorry, but unbundling IE from Windows is really stupid.
Unless you already had a web browser from elsewhere, which, if you're an average Joe, you aren't going to, then you're screwed.
Stupid, bad, irritating EU.
Grrr...
OfficialnyplayaFeb 24th 2009 9:55PM
The problem with IE is how far tied into the windows OS that it really is. After installing FF to your system, even on Vista, i dare you to uninstall IE. It is 100% guaranteed to crash your system. Why? Because they tie the stupid thing into critical system processes! Them being required to "unbundle" IE from the OS doesn't mean they have to stop mailing out the software included into it, but they have to untie it from the core of the OS and at least make it removable. That is also one of the reason's apple hasn't been forced to remove Safari. You can uninstall Safari without any repercussions of your system crashing constantly. As for IE8 being worth a damn? It wont be. Like a previous poster said, it will do better with CSS but just about everything else will be screwed (JS, XML, XHTML etc). They dont offer very much in compat. with that either sadly =/.