http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-daily-20120531-2012062...
Here's another good one that splits the IE line into IE 6/7/8 lines, and the Firefox line into 3.6/4/5+ lines:
http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser_version_partially_combine...
Also be sure to check out the plurality-browser-share-by-country view via the world map:
http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-daily-20120531-2012062...
Granted, it's hard to know who to trust regarding browser market share stats. But more data points are always useful.
http://clemesha.posterous.com/you-must-use-internet-explorer...
In some ways it would be more fair to blame Fortune 500 companies than MS for the IE tie in.
At least some of that traffic comes from preinstalled OEM copies, which Google pays the OEMs for having Chrome preinstalled as the default browser.
Also, it comes bundled with things like Java, Acrobat Reader,CCleaner, Divx Player, RealPlayer, Avast and Flash etc., so if people just click next, which most tend to do, they end up with Chrome on their machine. I think it used to come with Skype before Microsoft bought it.
http://mobilesociety.typepad.com/mobile_life/2011/09/outrage...
http://www.ghacks.net/2012/02/26/avast-7-will-install-google...
http://www.osnews.com/story/25184/Adobe_Tricks_Users_into_Do...
http://www.salsitasoft.com/2011/09/23/wonder-how-chrome-is-g...
Not to mention heavily pushing Chrome on Google properties like the search page, Youtube, Gmail etc. etc.
Google chat once hung in my Gmail tab in Opera, and when I reloaded it I got the message which said something like "Slow browser? Switch to Chrome.."
So Google's effectively buying marketshare with their search profits to cut out the middlemen like Firefox and Opera. Browsers like Firefox, Opera do not have the resources to push their browser this way and get people to try them.
See http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-daily-20080701-2012053....
What I find puzzling is the stable amplitude of the weekend shift (~5%) despite IE's lost of popularity.
Note also that Firefox is once again growing (slower than Chrome, but still).
Statcounter is tracking browser usage roughly by percentage of requests. They do some corrections, for instance they try to account for Chrome's prefetching.
More people (or more computers) might use IE as their default browser, but if Chrome is responsible for more activity (requests), what's the more popular browser?
Does anyone know if the prefetching/prerendering Chrome does is a significant portion of web traffic? Because that could easily skew request-based analytics.
In the most general of ways, the browser more people use.
Which in this case, via Akamai stats, is clearly IE.
The results are comparable if you restrict statcounter's stats to US only
1. I don't know anyone who owns any Windows Phone up through Phone 7. 2. I don't know anyone who knows how to use a 3g / 4g hotspot who would be dumb enough to still use IE.
Edit: in the hope of good css/html5 conformance / no browser specific programming like in the old days
It really is a great state for the browser market to be in.
Of course, they are not the most objective source, but they do have the whole Google Analytics dataset.
(GA runs on about 55% of all websites: http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/traffic_analysis/al...)
http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201203-201205-...
The strongholds are China and Korea, where IE usage is well over 70%. In fact, considering that China has the most internet usage of anywhere in the world I have my doubts about the veracity of the world-wide graph. It probably drastically undersamples Chinese numbers.
http://gs.statcounter.com/press/open-letter-ms#incorrect-wei...
As for usage, I also don't buy that. Most people in China are online primarily through their phones, but in first tier cities (which is still a gigantic population), people have bandwidth that most Americans could only dream of. Youku, for example, streamed 5 times the hours of video content as all of Youtube last I checked. And Tudou (which it is merging with) was a competitor on the same scale! In terms of page views, I'd be shocked if Amazon had as many as Taobao. No US news portal approaches QQ. Actually, Tencet (owner of QQ) is considering buying Yahoo!. The only way in which China's internet is small is in the amount of money its users want to spend on content.
1. Google had a huge advertising campaign to promote Chrome. It was unique and nothing like has been done for any other browser ever.
2. Majority of internet users in India are young. The mom's, dad's and grandmother's browser, I hypothesize, doesn't contribute as much to the stats as others. Many might have not even seen the pre-Chrome (or pre-Firefox) world.
3. Orkut was huge in India, Gmail and Google Search are bigger. Google has been pushing users to move to Chrome for a better experience for a long time now. That would have seen significant clickthrough especially because internet speeds have only recently started to pick up in India. Making the need for a 'better experience' more paramount.
4. Not enough business machines. Indian corporate world is not as highly computerized as North America or Europe. Indian Governmental Offices are way behind. While machines in western offices may bring about a significant increase in IE usage there, they will have lesser weight in India.
In Europe, Chrome has a small lead. In Asia, a medium lead. In South America, a large lead. In Africa, both are dwarfed by Firefox.
One possible unfounded speculation would be that it is connected to the age of the widespread adoption of the Internet. In North America, most users have likely been on the net for a long time and therefore use older, more established technology. In India, Internet access is likely a new thing to many people (and businesses), and they are therefore less "invested" in older programs.
Regarding your question on population, not sure how big is the Indian internet population. I would say 5% of the country(total pop. 1 bn approx) uses Internet regularly. Not sure how much that skews the data.
Could it be because it has to run on cheap hardware? Is there any more lightweight browser?
It might be better than IE in that regard, but it doesn't have any huge advantage over firefox.
Non-graphical: links, w3m. Other 'light' webkit shells: uzbl, Midori, Arora
1. Internet Explorer - 40.02%
2. Chrome - 21.33%
3. Firefox - 19.99%
4. Safari - 11.80%
5. Android Browser - 3.74%
6. Mozilla Compatible Agent - 1.33%
7. Opera Mini - 0.70%
8. Opera - 0.54%
9. IE with Chrome Frame - 0.21%
10. BlackBerry8530 - 0.03%
So it's not as rosy yet as we'd like.
1. Chrome - 40.49%
2. Safari - 28.66%
3. Firefox - 19.41%
4. Internet Explorer - 7.91%
5. Mozilla Compatible Agent - 1.46%
6. Android Browser - 1.00%
7. RockMelt - 0.40%
8. Opera - 0.33%
9. Opera Mini - 0.13%
10. BlackBerry9630 - 0.07%
Here's split by OS:
1. Windows - 78.77%
2. Macintosh - 8.39%
3. iOS - 6.10%
4. Android - 3.88%
5. (not set) - 1.50%
6. Linux - 0.69%
7. BlackBerry - 0.30%
8. Nokia - 0.12%
9. SymbianOS - 0.09%
10. Windows Phone - 0.08%
Otherwise, it's fast enough and supports most new features just fine. Developer tools support isn't quite as nice as Chrome but I usually use Safari until I need Chrome or hit a site that needs flash (since I don't have it installed on my system).
That's the reason the only browser i have sync enabled is opera.
http://mozakai.blogspot.com/2012/06/statcounter-and-statisti...
I don't know which source of browser market share is more reliable - no one does, really - and StatCounter made some valid points as well in their rebuttal. But to see them misunderstand statistics like that is cause for doubt.
Today they do have a case to argue that their OS dominance doesn't guarantee browser dominance. It is very different from when this complaint was made as there is healthy competition without the browser select screen. But personally I would like to see it stay.
