Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Internet
Surfin' Safari, ignoring IE
Bloggin' buddy Jeff Gamet over at The Mac Observer provided an analysis of Web browser market share today that showed Apple's Safari gaining while Microsoft Internet Explorer's piece of the proverbial pie is still getting smaller.The numbers, reported from Market Share, show a slight increase for Safari from 6.37% of the browser world in August to 6.65% in September. On the other hand, Internet Explorer started with 72.15% of the market, and ended September at 71.52%. While that change seems infinitesimal, readers should note that IE's share has been steadily dropping over time.
Firefox actually dropped in market share during September, down from 19.75% to 19.46%. Google's Chrome browser, which first appeared in September, has only grabbed 0.78% of the market so far.
What does this all mean? Not much, when looking at just one month of data. However, the long-term trend is indicating that Safari and Firefox continue to gain market share steadily at Internet Explorer's expense.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Le Big Mac said 12:12PM on 10-02-2008
I understand a small share for Safari, but how can 75% of the world still use IE?
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dastranger said 12:30PM on 10-02-2008
It's called being the "default" browser. That's why IE's #s are so high. I would bet the same is true if you looked at Mac users as well.
Galley said 12:38PM on 10-02-2008
Idiots? ;)
freediverdude said 12:38PM on 10-02-2008
Well, almost all workplaces still have computers with IE and frown on installing another browser. So that could be 50% right there (just pulling a number out of my butt).
smak said 1:47PM on 10-02-2008
... Or maybe it could be that IE 7 is actually a really good browser, and PCs are still 85% marketshare.
I don't have a degree in fancy math or anything, but that sounds about right.
Safari is a shit browser, and once Chrome for the Mac comes out, you'll see Safari's share probably cut in half.
DJCarbon43 said 7:19PM on 10-02-2008
In response to Smak, you have no idea what you are talking about. In standards compliance Safari/Webkit is numero uno.
Please articulate what exactly makes it a "shit" browser.
Jash Sayani said 12:30PM on 10-02-2008
Nice.... Many shifted from Firefox to Chrome like me. Waiting for Chrome for Mac and a more stable version for Windows with Plug-in support !
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LuminousNerd said 12:39PM on 10-02-2008
Google Chrome has "only" grabbed .78%? ONLY???
Pardon me, but for a brand new web browser to come from a company who's never done a web browser before, and be in BETA and still completely unavailable for a large percentage of its target market, and immediately grabs up almost 1% of the entire world browser market share, I think it's doing alright.
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Ian said 12:57PM on 10-02-2008
That's some yummy lookin' pie.
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michaelgrothaus said 1:10PM on 10-02-2008
It would be nice if Mozilla could actually put out a 512x512 icon for Firefox 3. Next-gen browser my ass!
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pixelsaur said 1:11PM on 10-02-2008
And wheres Camino in this? Like, .03%?
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flekash said 1:42PM on 10-02-2008
"While that change seems infinitesimal, readers should note that IE's share has been steadily dropping over time."
Is that counting from the Big Bang or from the moment when Apple started pushing Safari installation through iTunes update? I am still quite young but I remember IE gaining market share several years ago. Finally these changes aren't infinitesimal but measurable numbers.
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Luna Lovegood said 2:18PM on 10-02-2008
"Fanboys should note that IE's share has been steadily dropping over time."
FTFY; those of us without an emotional stake in this crap don't care.
"What does this all mean? Not much..."
You got that right. Thanks for the heads-up, though. By the way, what are the numbers for Office-iWork usage? How do those look?
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Rob said 3:12PM on 10-02-2008
I would like to know how iWork is doing.
For me, since most of my office is PC, I use Word for Work and Pages for any personal stuff.
However I use Keynote even for work presentations - even if I have to spend a few minutes doing clean up after importing - it is that much better.
jonathan ober said 3:24PM on 10-02-2008
I wonder if IE6 is still more widely used than IE7?
as a web designer/developer I loathe IE6 and it's insubordination when it comes to the coding of CSS/XHTML compliance...mostly because it's noncompliance is so easily seen.
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sxtxixtxcxh said 4:37PM on 10-02-2008
IE6 currently has about 1/3 the numbers of IE7.
Also something you might find interesting is the usage of IE6 is going down in nearly the same pattern as IE5 did when 6 was launched. I blogged about it here: http://iedeathmarch.org/2008/09/trending/
MorganX said 5:07PM on 10-02-2008
I personally use Safari for Windows because I like the interface and the way it handles bookmarks and RSS feeds and the built-in spell check; but, there are many things, some small, some big that make IE the better browser for the enterprise and for power users.
IE tends to be faster in general use
Security Zones (and the ability to manage them with group Policy)
Safari download window is a nuisance
Cannot relocated cache folder or modify size
Safari has many caching issues
IE ActiveX is much more seamless than plug-ins, can be easily auto-installed with proper security settings. Many ActiveX applications.
Safari/Firefox simply doesn't have the framework to compete in the enterprise, but at home, I would like to see the download window auto-close and be able to control the size and location of the cache folder. Would like Speed increase in Vista as well.
As it stands, even with Safari's shortcomings, I prefer to use it for personal use over IE, that includes IE 8 beta 2.
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Matthew said 3:31AM on 10-03-2008
IE ActiveX is much more seamless than plug-ins, can be easily auto-installed with proper security settings.
“You are tying to run some javascript locally which you wrote on your computer in your web browser.
BUT I stopped it running under the pretence I am protecting you even though your javascript shouldn't be able to do any damage to your computer (not that you'd want to because you wrote it!) but it could potential do so because we made such a mess of things when integrating IE into Windows.”
So seamless…
I would question hugely whether IE is faster for general use. My experience has never ever found this to be the case.
IE is a poor product, has been a poor product for years and the latest version doesn't look like it is going to get much better.
Paul Thurott thinks Apple is lying when they say IE7 has compatibility issues with modern web standards which affect Web 2.0 applications.
He (and many others) are no doubt basing this on the “other sites work” assumption without realising the hoops developers have to jump through and Heath Robinson tricks they must perform in order to get their pages to work right.
The only way IE will lose share is if pages starts breaking in it, just when like non standard, IE only sites break in Safari and Firefox. As users will nearly always blame their browser (see “smak” above) they will leave IE and find something else. But stuff won't break whilst so many people still use IE.
It's a vicious circle.
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Unregistered said 12:47AM on 10-03-2008
I use Safari more often then Opera. Then I recently got Firefox for the mac (becos of nuke anything enhanced and downthemall). If not for the useful Activity function in Safari as well as its integration with Keychain, I'd have moved over to FF completely.
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Chris Howard said 3:52AM on 10-03-2008
Actually, the browser that poses the biggest threat to Internet Explorer's dominance is lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce very soon.
So forget Safari, Opera, Firefox and Chrome. They're not doing nothing to IE's marketshare compared to this new beast.
And that browser is: Internet Explorer 8.
From the pages I've tested it on, it will do more to kill IE than anything else. Pages I spent hours making IE6 & IE7 friendly are totally scrambled on IE8. It breaks perfectly good pages.
The sooner MS can get it to market, the better, coz it is guaranteed to destroy what little goodwill is left for IE.
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