Hardware 2.0

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Google Chrome steals usage share from IE/Firefox, Win 7 breaks 10%

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes | February 1, 2010, 5:39am PST

Summary

Net Applications’ data for January is out, and there are some interesting trends displayed.
First, the data shows that Google’s Chrome browser has managed to snatch usage share from Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Here’s the data:

Chrome: 5.20% (up from 4.64% in Dec ‘09)
IE: 62.18% (down from 62.69% in Dec ‘09)
Firefox: 24.41% (down from 24.61% in Dec ‘09)

Note: While we [...]

Topics

Google Inc., Mozilla Firefox, Usage, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Digital Equipment Corp., iPhone OS Platform, Microsoft Windows 7, Web Browsers, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Internet, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

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Net Applications’ data for January is out, and there are some interesting trends displayed.

First, the data shows that Google’s Chrome browser has managed to snatch usage share from Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Here’s the data:

Chrome: 5.20% (up from 4.64% in Dec ‘09)
IE: 62.18% (down from 62.69% in Dec ‘09)
Firefox: 24.41% (down from 24.61% in Dec ‘09)

Note: While we may debate as to whether Net Applications is a reliable metric or not, Mozilla both accept and use its data in its PR propaganda.

Note that this is the second month in a row that Net Applications has shown a decline in Firefox usage.

I noticed over the holiday period that Google was aggressively pushing Chrome through ads, even going as far as to offer customized downloads that could be sent as gifts via email.

The top browser spot has also changed hands, now belonging to IE8, with 22.31%, beating IE6 (20.07%). Still far too many people browsing the web with IE6 … UPGRADE PEOPLE!!!!!

In other news, Windows 7 global usage share hit 10% on January 31st. Overall, Windows 7 ended January with a 7.51% usage share (leaping ahead from 5.71% for Dec ‘09). Also interesting is the data that shows that Redmond WA, home of Microsoft, shows the highest Windows 7 usage share within the US, a robust 42%.

Overall, Windows usage is down to 92.02% (from 92.21% in Dec ‘09 - even strong Windows 7 gains can’t halt the slow erosion of Windows’ usage share), Mac is up to 5.13% (from 5.11% in Dec ‘09), which I admit probably isn’t significant, and Linux is unchanged at 1.02%. iPhone OS platform is also up marginally to 0.47% (up from 0.44% in Dec ‘09).

Net Applications measures operating system usage by tracking computers that visit the 40,000 sites monitored for clients, which represents a pool of about 160 million unique visitors each month. This data is then weighted based on the estimated size of each country’s Internet population.

[UPDATE: Breaking down the numbers more, IE8 has a larger usage share than it seems initially:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0: 22.31%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 - Compatibility Mode: 2.79%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 - Compatibility Mode - Maxthon Edition: 0.21%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 - Compatibility Mode - Tencent Traveler Edition: 0.10%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 - Compatibility Mode - TheWorld Edition: 0.09%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 - Maxthon Edition: 0.02%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 - Tencent Traveler Edition: 0.02%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 - TheWorld Edition: 0.02%
TOTAL 25.56%

More details here.]

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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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Here we go with the squewed marketing statistics

How much of that Windows 7 10% has actually been sold to customers outside of the channel Adrian?

And does anybody really understand Net Applications statistics?

They are gathering their usage data sample in an artificial 'closed loop' which distorts the statistics by default. It simply isn't a random sampling across 'the world'.

Two words for you Adi: bo gus
Yogi: Yo, no gi. Yo Yo Ma.

OK, so that was more than two.
D.T.Schmitz

(Edited: 02/01/2010 06:57 AM)
- Reply to
- Flagged
That's funny. No one complained

or called it inaccurate when it showed FireFox usage increasing.
So the definition of 'accurate data' is one that supports your bias? How nice.
mdemuth

02/01/2010 06:35 AM
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- Flagged
WOW - good catch...nt

nt
ItsTheBottomLine

02/01/2010 08:55 AM
- Flagged
And StatCounter says...

...that Firefox has 31.35% market share in the US alone (Win 7 @ 11.12%). So who do you believe?
bandersnatch42vt

02/01/2010 09:28 AM
- Flag
Here we go again with DTS's diminishing customer base again.

You had the chance to push Ubunbtu on to your "clients" when XP was near the end, and Vista wasn't as great as it could have been, but now that the people you target for your income see something better in Windows 7 then they do in your Ubuntu solution, market numbers are "squewed".

Lean to deal with it, Dietrich.
John Zern

(Edited: 02/01/2010 06:41 AM)
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- Flag
There are others

Net apps got popular because they've been arround and update regularly for a while. Look at the OS Marketshare article in wikipedia for a list of others.

But anyway, much of those Windows 7 hits are prolly from pirated copies...as he says, that the marketshare in US is lower than "the world".

Also, off the top of my head, 10% is like maybe 150-200 million instalations (given 1.7 bil internet users). But Microsoft just announced that they sold 60 million liscenses, So even if Net app is right, that means that most of the installations are likely from China or somewhere.
rasmasyean

(Edited: 02/01/2010 08:03 AM)
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- Flag
You are correct.

Everything is "off the top of your head".

But, just talking it through helps you, right?

Does not change what I said.
D.T.Schmitz

02/01/2010 08:13 AM
- Flag
How do we know they are skewed?

What is a better way?
Windows 7 man

02/01/2010 08:13 AM
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- Flag
Does that mean

Linux has less market share too?

^0^
NStalnecker

02/01/2010 08:28 AM
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- Flag
Difficult to quantify

I didn't say it would be easy to garner the information.

Something like Smolt, if installed on each discrete PC, could be used to garner more accurate tallys (vs User Agent string).

But that isn't realistically possible, at least not yet.
D.T.Schmitz

02/01/2010 08:44 AM
- Flag
ZDNet Hype Blogs

Skewed marketing statistics...skewed everything. I remember reading a ZDNet entry the same week that Google Chrome Beta launched, declaring it dead, a failure...etc. Flavor Flave should have his own ZDNet blog. Every once in a while, I am actually informed by something here. For the most part, it's just hype. The comments section is usually full of intellectual pride, confusion, emotional attachment to this or that software/OS/hardware/brand, drenched in flame sauce. I love it. It's the I.T. Jersey shore without the Gym, Tanning, and Laundry!
parkerjgpatton

02/01/2010 08:54 AM
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- Flag
How can you skew quoted numbers,

me thinks your reaching...
ItsTheBottomLine

02/01/2010 08:57 AM
- Flag
Didn't you put these out thee last month for next year?

"Chrome OS WILL be the downfall of M$. Come this time next year I predict that the OS landscape will look something like this:

ChomeOS---40%
Windows---32%
Linux-----11%
AppleOSX--14%
Others-----3%
..."
I have a reminder on my calendar to check the numbers in January of 2011...
ItsTheBottomLine

02/01/2010 09:46 AM
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- Flag
If by "outside the channel" you mean

direct sales of the OS vs buying it bundled with a new computer then there have been plenty of sales... hell everyone sold out of the 3-pack family upgrade versions that could upgrade 3 computers be they running Vista or XP 32 or 64 bit. And before you say anything note that BestBuy, Amazon, TigerDirect, and Microsoft were all selling the packs... and I was fortunate enough to get one prior to Microsoft ending that particular bundle.

As for the Net Applications data - that is the same data Mozilla uses when calculating Firefox usage so why is it applicable for Firefox to get usage data but not Microsoft? And please explain the "skewed by default" data...
athynz

02/01/2010 10:12 AM
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- Flag
Net Applications: About Our Market Share Statistics

Taken from url:
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/
"We use a unique methodology for collecting this data. We collect data from the browsers of site visitors to our exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers."

OK, it's unique and the sampling only occurs within their 'on-demand' network.

That, by itself, sets up an artificial environment.
It isn't by any means normalized.

Rather, it is 'cherry picked' data used for the data set.

====================================

This data provides valuable insight into significant trends for internet usage. These statistics include monthly information on key statistics such as browser trends (e.g. Internet Explorer vs. Firefox market share), search engine referral data (e.g. Yahoo vs. MSN vs. Google traffic market share) and operating system share (Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux market share or even the iPhone market share vs. Windows Mobile).

[ We use a unique methodology for collecting this data. We collect data from the browsers of site visitors to our exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers ].

The data is compiled from approximately 160 million visitors per month. The information published is an aggregate of the data from this network of hosted website statistics. The site unique visitor and referral information is summarized on a monthly, weekly, daily and hourly basis.

In addition, we classify 430+ referral sources identified as search engines. Aggregate traffic referrals from these engines are summarized and reported on. The statistics for search engines include both organic and sponsored referrals. The websites in our population represent almost all countries on earth.

The data is made available free of charge on a monthly basis that includes monthly browser market share trends, top search engine referrals, screen resolutions, top ISPs and operating systems trends. An upgraded version is available that provides reports by geolocation, preview weekly data and other features.

Additional estimates about the website population:

* 76% participate in pay per click programs to drive traffic to their sites.
* 43% are commerce sites
* 18% are corporate sites
* 10% are content sites
* 29% classify themselves as other (includes gov, org, search engine marketers etc..)

For information on mobile share methodology, click here.
D.T.Schmitz

(Edited: 02/01/2010 10:28 AM)
- Flag