Firefox Nears 30% of Worldwide Market Share

[Nibiru2012]

From: Tom's Hardware

12:10 PM - April 2, 2010

Mozilla this week released its first ever quarterly analyst report and according to Mozilla, Firefox is accounting for nearly 40 percent of the browser market share in Europe and nearly 30 percent worldwide.

Mozilla's numbers are a combination of market share numbers from StatCounter, Quantcast, Net Applications, and Gemius. For each continent, the company calculated an average of the figures reported by these sources and used this figure as the percentage. Mozilla says the number of Firefox users noted in parentheses for each continent is an estimate based on its own metrics.

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Market share aside, Mozilla also provided some interesting data about its users in the United States. By looking at the distribution of daily Firefox “update” pings from users, the company took a week’s worth of data and broke it down by hour and then by state to see which states are more likely to start up Firefox at any given time. From the looks of things, people in New York appear least likely to start up their browser during the 6 a.m., 7 a.m., and 8 a.m. hours. People in Hawaii appear to be most likely to start using their browser during the 6 a.m., 7 a.m., and 8 a.m. hours.

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If you're looking for an East Coast vs. West Coast comparison, it looks a little something like this.

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The study contains a bunch of other interesting bits and pieces, like how many tabs the average user has open (average of 2 and 3 but one user had 600 open at once) and which country in the world is more into add-ons and personalizing their browsers.

Download the report here.


SOURCE

 

[Ian]

Very interesting - if I had to take a guess, I would have thought FireFox usage would have been close to 10% (most non-tech people I know use IE). However, I know many corporations and universities which make FF the default choice, which may have a larger effect.

I've got all of the major browsers on my PC, but I use IE8 the most at the moment for general browsing. Any development work and I'll use FF, because the plugin feature is second to none.

 

[DOA]

Do some investigation on malware from the internet browsers and Browser speed.
You will dump IE in a heartbeat, which most high tech users have already done.

Symantec misguided a lot of people saying IE was "more secure" because it had fewer vulnerabilities, too bad they did not mention the number of problems per user and the severity of the problems.

Any one else wondering just how much information browser makers have on us?

 

[BevDaBronxbabe]

Somehow those figures don't impress me. I use FF only for some sites and mostly use IE 8 because FF is still SLOWWWWWWWWWWW

Very interesting - if I had to take a guess, I would have thought FireFox usage would have been close to 10% (most non-tech people I know use IE). However, I know many corporations and universities which make FF the default choice, which may have a larger effect.

I've got all of the major browsers on my PC, but I use IE8 the most at the moment for general browsing. Any development work and I'll use FF, because the plugin feature is second to none.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Somehow those figures don't impress me. I use FF only for some sites and mostly use IE 8 because FF is still SLOWWWWWWWWWWW

Firefox v3.6.3 is very fast, at least for me. As fast as Opera v10.51 and faster than IE8.

 

[catilley1092]

FF 3.6.3 is the fastest browser on the market, there's no second guessing that. Opera tries hard, but their interface, "Ask" search engine, those weird speed dials and other gimmicks makes them an unattractive option.

 

[andsome]

They can keep FF for me. I just cannot see how any browser can be faster that IE8 is on my computer. How can you get faster than instantaneous?

 

[Veedaz]

Browser speed depends on a few things (Operating System, Hardware Spec and Internet Connection, ... Some are still on Dial-up and that is very very slow

 

[DOA]

Browser speed tests:
http://lifehacker.com/5457242/browser-speed-tests-firefox-36-chrome-4-opera-105-and-extensions

Most of us do not get "instant" response. When I open Chrome in the morning it loads DailyTech, Anandtech, CNN, TKASomething and my email. IE is noticeably slower opening this group than Firefox or Chrome.

 

[andsome]

It could well be that a cable connection helps give me such a good experience with IE8.

 

[patrickt]

I'll stick with IE8 but I do occasionally download FF to check it out. I wonder if my downloading the program puts me on the list as a "user"?

 

[catilley1092]

That's part of what they go by, patrickt, is the number of downloads that FF does. But in an article that Nibiru2012 pointed out, there were also timeframes that FF was on the market more. Everyone who downloads a program isn't necessarily a user. It's just one way of measuring use.

 

[Veedaz]

I'll stick with IE8 but I do occasionally download FF to check it out. I wonder if my downloading the program puts me on the list as a "user"?

I do that quite a lot .. download an app run it / have a look at it then bin it 99% of the time

 

[andsome]

I do that quite a lot .. download an app run it / have a look at it then bin it 99% of the time

I hope you do an Acronis back up first.

 

[Veedaz]

I do mate but with Paragon, always backup all of C\ and D\ (C\ only holds the OS)

 

[xrdguy]

IE still does not have any addon to block ads. So I don't use IE at all.

 

[catilley1092]

It would be good if they did. I mean, Adblock Plus is free software, as defined by the GNU General Public License (GPL), a widely used license for free software projects. Although Windows is not free, what would be wrong with using freely available software? Most of us do, FF is a prime example of that.

 

[davehc]

"Browser speed tests:
http://lifehacker.com/5457242/browse...and-extensions"

The link does not fully support the arguments in this thread, as it does not seem to refer to IE at all? If you browse, you will find that it is difficult to find a recent comparison, which includes IE and the later builds of Firefox. This was the best one I could find:
http://sixrevisions.com/infographics/performance-comparison-of-major-web-browsers/

"Most of us do not get "instant" response. When I open Chrome in the morning it loads DailyTech, Anandtech, CNN, TKASomething and my email. IE is noticeably slower opening this group than Firefox or Chrome."

I do find this, but only in the initial opening after an initial boot/reboot. After that I cannot, by eye, discern any speed difference.

"That's part of what they go by, patrickt, is the number of downloads that FF does. But in an article that Nibiru2012 pointed out, there were also timeframes that FF was on the market more. Everyone who downloads a program isn't necessarily a user. It's just one way of measuring use."

I heartily concur. The latest hype on browser popularity, is based entirely on download figures. With FF bringing out new Betas and releases at the rate of one a month, their download figures are obviously going to enahance that statistic artificially.
"IE still does not have any addon to block ads. So I don't use IE at all. "

In fact, it does. The "in private" browsing is just that, in conjunction with the popup blocked, but it has to be manually helped with it's DBase - not for the inexperienced. But, you can also plug in the IE Ad blocker, which performs in pretty much the same way as the FireFox one :
http://adblockie.codeplex.com/releases/view/27612

From choice and familiarity, I use IE. One cannot argue with the benchmarks though. Chrome I discount. I am not, I think, a "Power user" but find it too light weight. There are a number of similar "lightweight" browsers available which, for several personal reasons, I would not care to try.
I must admit that I do not understand the constant references to the "security" of a browser. A browser is a GUI to the internet and, as such, I would have thought they were all similarly vulnerable. My security is locked into my operating system - I do not rely on the browser to do it for me. I have, through my work/interests, frequent need to go on to the web from the command prompt, without using a gui. I have not noticed any increased exposure, by this method.

Ony one added comment. On my computer(s). Watching the resource monitor, Firefox uses more resources that IE8, scanning similar material. But that could be a result of my personal customisation.

 

[celldweller1591]

FF is a good and fast browser. it has got loads of addons andi cant imagine brpwsing w/o it. i used IE to download FF and from that vary day, i never used IE

 

[catilley1092]

Firefox is fast gaining ground, and it will only be a matter of time that they are running neck to neck with IE. In past years (especially when Gates was running things), he would never have allowed such as this, at least without putting up a fight. IE9 is looking to be promising, but will it be too little, too late? The full release is a while away, in fact, it's possible to see the next beta of Windows before it's ready. I do agree with HTML 5 being included with IE9, perhaps Adobe can't hold the 64 bit browser hostage any longer, but that all remains to be seen. What is being seen is the lowest IE usage figures, going back a very long time. Prior to Win 2K, probably. But the one and most important number is the one of Windows users (90+%). That is stunning, and will probably climb higher. And it didn't happen overnight, either. I remember around 1984 or so, Microsoft was fighting like hell for a share of the market, that was 26 years ago. Look where they're at now. That's probably the most important number they are concerned about, is it's OS users. That's where the real money is made for them.