Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Firefox's worldwide market share hovering near 30%

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes | April 1, 2010, 3:25am PDT

Mozilla now estimates that its Firefox web browser is now responsible for some 30% of all web browsing.

Yesterday Mozilla released its first quarterly analyst report (PDF), a document which bought together a whole raft of metrics related to the browser.

By number-crunching data from four metrics providers that Mozilla called “reliable sources” - StatCounter, Quantcast, Net Applications, and Gemius - to pull together a worldwide usage figure of 30% for the plucky browser.

On a more granular level, the company also pulled apart the stats on a continental level:

Strongest adoption is in Europe, with usage up at 39.2%. The browser usage for north America stands at 26%.

Other interesting data … we’ll, the tab usage data was an eye opener:

In one recent study, we found that the typical user has between 2 and 3 tabs open at any one time. And what was the maximum? Over 600 tabs!

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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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Mozilla lies, 24.5% from NetApplications

Follow this link please:
http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0.
In short, IE 60.65%, Firefox 24.5%, Chrome 6.13%.
Adrian, I know you are a firefox envangelist, but post false data will only lower your credit.
UseYourHead
1st Apr 2010
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Get real.

To count all version of IE as one browser is a joke. As a Web developer, I can tell you unequivocally that IE 6, 7 and 8 are completely different browsers, and I have to maintain completely different stylesheets for the three "IE's".

From a Web developer's perspective, the real browser market looks like this:

IE7: 14.11%
IE6: 21.18%
IE8: 22.60%
Firefox: 24.50%

The IE data is from Net Applications' March 1, 2010 sampling.
UserLand
1st Apr 2010
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wrong

that is only one of the sources that they used. SO just because it says 24.5 from them doesnt mean that its 24.5 total. Maybe you should have read the article first.
Jimster480
2nd Apr 2010
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RE: Firefox's worldwide market share hovering near 30%

"Mozilla now estimates that its Firefox web browser is now responsible for some 30% of all web browsing."

I estimate that my personal website is seen by 20% of the internet using population every day... see how easy it is?

Maybe they get these figures because the clever people are using modified HOST files, that block data sent to those stat collectors, and the rest are using FF thinking they're "much safer now"... and yet, they're the ones providing these collectable stats. Oh the irony.
LeeC
1st Apr 2010
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re: RE: Firefox's worldwide market share hovering near 30%

I estimate that my personal website is seen by 20% of the internet using population every day... see how easy it is?

Read much? "By number-crunching data from four metrics providers ... to pull together a worldwide usage figure of 30% for the plucky browser."

In other words, they have data to back it up.

See how easy it is to look like an idiot?
none none
1st Apr 2010
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For cryin' out loud.

Ask a Web developer, gain a clue. "IE" is not a single browser, any more than Gecko-based browsers are all the same. You can NOT code a Website with a single stylesheet and expect it to work with IE6 (the current market leader), IE7 and IE8. The three IE's are as different as night and day. You, my friend, are a victim of Microsoft's marketing BS -- or perhaps a perpetrator.
UserLand
1st Apr 2010
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I look at the glass as being half-full

Considering back in 2005, Firefox was at 0% and just registering on the radar, 25-30% is a decent accomplishment.

That's also 25-30% less people using crummy IE as their primary browser.
ubiquitous one
1st Apr 2010
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I Agree

Firefox is a killer application. I love the plug ins.
chessmen
2nd Apr 2010
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RE: I look at the glass half full

It took Microsux years to gain its Dominance over Netscape .. and if it hadn't forced its self onto every version of windows since win95 it wouldn't be the dominant player that it is today .. but thanx to apples dropping the ball when it had the chance .. and Linux coming to the desktop game so late.. I know Linux has been around for many years ... but only lately has it became a real viable alternative as a mainstream OS.. and I love Linux .. but it still has a ways to go as a OS for the masses

But the fact is most computer owners are doing good to turn on their PC or MAC and use the basic pre-installed software .. most are not even aware other browsers exist much less how much better they are than what the currently use.. but at the same time Ive made a ton of money off of MS and their security holes, and the malware targeted at stupid end uses who cant or wont keep their machines protected and up to date.. so for me its job security for MS to keep doing what they do lol

But I install Chrome and Firefox on every end user machine that comes my way.. and tell the customer to try them .. Ive converted alot to Firefox .. they didn't even know that they existed.

But until Companies like Dell, Compaq, HP, etc pre-install at least Firefox and Chrome as well as IE the others will most likely never surpass IE in numbers.. but it all comes down to money .. these companies dont want to support the free browsers.. and they dont get paid to include them..

If you love IE great if you dont then Install Chrome or Firefox on as many computers as you can .. show people the difference and they will switch
nrgeek
2nd Apr 2010
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RE: Firefox's worldwide market share hovering near 30%

I expect this will grow more in coming days. The
add-ons to Firefox also add an extra user
preference to it than IE, Opera, Safari and even
Chrome. However, Chrome is also expected to
perform better than others.
abdurRaheem2
1st Apr 2010
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StatCounter's statistics showing how worldwide browser-version

market share has developed over the last two years (http://preview.tinyurl.com/ye9j2z8 ) makes fascinating reading - perhaps not only different IE, but also different Firefox versions should be considered different browsers. What do our web developers say ?...

I found that reference to the maximum number of tabs open comforting ; I don't think I've ever come over 50 - 60...

Henri
mhenriday
1st Apr 2010
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Web Developer

IE must be treated as different versions, firefox not so much.

Some things will render different in the 3 different versions of IE.

In firefox, they generally all render the same, except the later versions will support more features. So it won't look as nice, but the layout will be correct.
sheldonross
1st Apr 2010
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Firefox really slows down with over 100 tabs

It also tends to crash more. My record is 475 tabs and it still works. In fact, this is the computer with that many tabs open right now.
jorjitop
1st Apr 2010
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Try it without flash

You'll be quite surprised. I use the NoScript addon, and I've found that when it's enabled and blocking flash ads I can open 100+ tabs without significant slowdowns and nil crashes.
eMJayy
1st Apr 2010
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NetApplications has no credibility

For years, people were treating NetApplications as if their word was gospel when it was, in fact, seriously flawed.

Here's the most obvious example. Macs could never have gotten 10% global market share with their global sale figures, yet most people didn't seem to notice the obvious errors in the numbers. I mean, come on! How could Macs achieve 10% share in the US and 10% share around the globe if up to that time only half of all Macs were being sold to the much bigger market outside the US? Then NetApplications suddenly 'changed their methodology' and market share data suddenly shifted radically to look more like what others have been reporting for years. Instead of saying "hey, they've been lying to us all this time", persons continue to rank NetApplications data as more important than all the other data that still continues to contradict theirs.

The Mozilla figures are what I expected to see, given the data that's out there. Quite frankly, this is only a revelation to those persons who rely only on NetApplication data. While the illustration showing usage by geographic location is useful, it doesn't tell the whole story. The reality is that browser usage varies drastically by country and that the only reason IE has so much market share over FF is that a handful of countries with large populations are using it overwhelmingly. In fact, much of IE's market share comes from China alone. Over 90% of China's Internet users surf the web with IE and 60% of them use IE6. Meanwhile, China makes up nearly 20% of all web users. That means that as much as a third of IE users actually live in China. If you take China out of the picture, it becomes clear that FF is actually doing better than most think.
eMJayy
1st Apr 2010
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