In this review of web browser market share we see how the major web browsers have performed over the last three months.
StatCounter’s figures for August reveal that IE has finally stopped its rapid decline (down 20% over the last 2 years) whilst Chrome has continued its meteoric rise and strengthened its top spot – a position it first took in May.
Meanwhile Firefox usage continues to decline. It initially looked in May that the discontinuation of support for the old Firefox 3.6+ was not having a serious impact on Firefox market share – in fact Firefox enjoyed a mini revival, enjoying its first meaningful increase in market share for almost a year.
That now appears to have been only a temporary blip with Firefox losing almost 3% since May – unfortunately for Mozilla it appears that many users voted with their feet and switched to another browser instead of upgrading to Firefox 11+
Worldwide Browser Market Share – Aug 2012
Per StatCounter figures, the total global market share for the main web browsers over the last 3 months (all versions of each browser) is:
| Aug 2012 % | May 2012 % | % Change | ||||
| Chrome |
33.59 |
32.52 |
1.07 |
|||
| IE |
32.85 |
32.12 |
0.73 |
|||
| Firefox |
22.85 |
25.48 |
-2.63 |
|||
| Safari |
7.39 |
7.12 |
0.27 |
|||
| Opera |
1.63 |
1.75 |
-0.12 |
|||
| Others |
1.69 |
1.01 |
0.68 |
Chrome Keeps Growing – For Now
Chrome has no doubt picked up many of those lost Firefox users but it’s noticeable that whereas Chrome’s growth used to cannibalize Firefox and IE, it is now only Firefox which is the victim.
The pace of Chrome’s growth is likely to slow significantly if it has only 1 browser to attack (see IE below).
IE Has Stopped Declining
IE market share has been in decline for years and it is too early to be sure but it appears to have bottomed out. Although Microsoft’s traditional dominance of the web browser market has certainly come to an end, it is very unlikely to ever face the ignominy of dropping further into third place.
In my opinion it’s decline has bottomed out (at quite a high level) due to the inherent advantages of its user base which broadly consists of 3 categories of user:
- Business users – IE is the runaway market leader in businesses as it offers a stable platform – tightly integrated into Windows and easy to maintain and control within a business/server environment.
- ‘Default’ users – those who have always used IE because it is part of Windows and who will continue to use it no matter what – because they always have or because they aren’t aware of alternatives.
- ‘Opt In’ users – those users who have tried other browsers but prefer IE.
All browsers have Opt In users – these are the people most likely to switch to a new browser if they find one more suitable for their needs. However, only IE has users from the first two categories – in significant volumes.
The first two categories are incredibly resistant to change and could account for the lion’s share of IE current usage – it is therefore unlikely that IE has anywhere further to drop. No matter how good the competition becomes, large volumes of business and default users should help shore up IE market share at around the 30% mark for a long time to come.
The release of Windows 8 and IE10 in October should also lead to a renewed impetus for IE, making it a harder target for other browsers to attack.
Firefox In Trouble?
Firefox may still have three times the market share of Apple-funded Safari but it is certainly struggling.
It has been in decline ever since the controversial release of version 4 in March 2011, losing 8% since.
Mozilla will be disappointed that the discontinuation of support for Firefox 3.6 in April appears to have significantly impacted market share. If the lost users switched to another browser to avoid the newer Firefox user interface it doesn’t bode well for the major user interface changes coming over the next few months…
Nor does IE’s change in fortune – Firefox was able to slow down its own rate of decline (users lost to Chrome) over the last couple of years due to new users switching from IE. Now that IE has stabilized, even that safety net has gone.
Other Highlights
Safari market share has grown slightly – this is likely due to the increasing market share of Mac OS X and the success of the new iPad.
Opera has decreased marginally – it’s interesting that it didn’t appear to benefit from the decline of Firefox.
Conclusion
Chrome cements its position in first place but IE has arrested its decline and increased market share for the first time this year.
The launch of IE10 in October is long awaited and is a major improvement but splitting it into two fundamentally different versions depending on the interface (‘formerly Metro’ or desktop) could lead to confusion amongst casual users.
Firefox is the biggest loser but is safe in 3rd place whilst Safari and Opera hold their own in 4th and 5th place respectively.