Ubuntu Tips n Tricks

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Chrome Web Browser Market Share Set to Eclipse Firefox in 2011

Posted: 04 Sep 2010 06:07 AM PDT

Google Chrome is without doubt the fastest growing web browser in terms of global market share. It was first released as a beta version on September 2008, and in just two years it quickly climbed to third place (behind Internet Explorer and Firefox) eclipsing Apple's Safari. If the current growth of Chrome will remain at a steady pace for the next few months, I roughly calculated that it will surpass Firefox in around last quarter of 2011.

My estimate is based on this data from StatCounter Global Stats:

From the graph above , you can clearly see the steep climb of Google Chrome. On the other hand, Firefox has remained constant and it is likely that it will stay that way for several months or so.

To support my guesstimate, I also gathered some data from web analytics firm Net Applications. The graph below shows the growth pattern of Firefox and Chrome, which is nearly the same as the data shown on StatCounter.

According to Net Applications, the market share of Firefox slightly went down to 24.24% in second quarter of 2010 from 24.40% in Q1. This is the first time that Firefox's market share has dipped since it was first launched in 2004. Meanwhile, Chrome is rapidly climbing up from 5.67% in Q1 to 7.00% in Q2.

Majority of visitors here at Tech Source is still using Firefox, with Google Chrome coming in second and IE in third place (see the graph below).

Although I still use Firefox, my frequently used or my main web browser at the moment is Google Chrome primarily because it now has plenty of web developer extensions. I'm also impressed with its speed and its simple and sleek interface.

If Mozilla Firefox will not step up its game, it certainly won't take long before Chrome can take away its place as the second most popular web browser on the planet. The upcoming Firefox 4 is going to be a make or break release and the future of this popular open-source project could be at stake.

What do you think? You may share with us your thoughts via comment.