Browser statistics unreliable but many follow them
Friday, 4. November 2005, 14:52:53
Commentary
The key issue for Opera is to get accurate statistics on market share. For years Opera users identified as Internet Explorer to get web sites to serve data. With the arrival of version 8.5 Opera now defaults to identify as Opera and not any other browser. Meanwhile, Firefox, which always identifies itself, has passed 10% market share and will now start picking up support from independent software developers interested in making a living off the open source browser's rapidly growing desktop user base.
Even though Opera has focused on mobile devices, the enormous U.S. market has lagged behind Europe and Asia in terms of offering sophisticated, high speed wireless networks and related devices. Opera's technological strengths are its small screen rendering technologies and the new release of Opera "mini" which allows less capable cell phones to use advanced mobile services.
So, while market research still focuses on the desktop, the Internet is moving ahead to embrace a wider range of devices and means to access information. How Opera will fare in mobile markets will be fascinating to observe.
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Firefox passes 10 percent market share
11/3/2005 5:49:01 PM,
by Ryan Paul, Arstechnica
According to web analysis firm OneStat, the Firefox web browser comprises 11.51 percent of the global browser market. A 2.82 percent increase since April effectively pushed the popular open source browser above the 10 percent mark. Firefox is the second most popular browser in use today, beaten only by Internet Explorer which dominates the browser market with its 85.45 percent market share, down 1.18 percent since April. In third place is Apple's Safari web browser, with 1.75 percent market share.
OneStat also provides statistics for several individual countries, including the US, the UK, and Canada. In the UK, Firefox only has a 5 percent market share, despite the fact that open source software is becoming popular with various UK government agencies. Firefox has 14 percent market share in the U.S. and approximately 17 percent in Canada.
One must bear in mind that browser statistics are by no means entirely accurate. These statistics illuminate important trends in the dynamic world of browser market share, but the significance and implications of those trends and the accuracy of the statistics themselves are entirely debatable. There are many factors that decrease the reliability of such statistics.
The Opera web browser, which is now available for free, is at the bottom of the list with less than 1 percent market share.
Many Opera users configure the browser to emit a user agent string that makes it look like Internet Explorer, so web servers have no way to accurately identify all Opera users.
It is likely that Opera represents far more than 1 percent of the market, but there is no way to know for sure.
[snip]
Firefox market share may increase even more in the immediate future, with Firefox 1.5 scheduled for possible release later this month. Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1 hit the 'net yesterday, and it is currently available for download. If no significant bugs are found in the first release candidate, we may see a second release candidate as early as the 11th of November, prior to the official release of Firefox 1.5. The 1.5 release candidate features a number of extremely compelling enhancements, including extensive support for Scalable Vector Graphics rendering, and Javascript 1.6.
The key issue for Opera is to get accurate statistics on market share. For years Opera users identified as Internet Explorer to get web sites to serve data. With the arrival of version 8.5 Opera now defaults to identify as Opera and not any other browser. Meanwhile, Firefox, which always identifies itself, has passed 10% market share and will now start picking up support from independent software developers interested in making a living off the open source browser's rapidly growing desktop user base.
Even though Opera has focused on mobile devices, the enormous U.S. market has lagged behind Europe and Asia in terms of offering sophisticated, high speed wireless networks and related devices. Opera's technological strengths are its small screen rendering technologies and the new release of Opera "mini" which allows less capable cell phones to use advanced mobile services.
So, while market research still focuses on the desktop, the Internet is moving ahead to embrace a wider range of devices and means to access information. How Opera will fare in mobile markets will be fascinating to observe.
----
Firefox passes 10 percent market share
11/3/2005 5:49:01 PM,
by Ryan Paul, Arstechnica
According to web analysis firm OneStat, the Firefox web browser comprises 11.51 percent of the global browser market. A 2.82 percent increase since April effectively pushed the popular open source browser above the 10 percent mark. Firefox is the second most popular browser in use today, beaten only by Internet Explorer which dominates the browser market with its 85.45 percent market share, down 1.18 percent since April. In third place is Apple's Safari web browser, with 1.75 percent market share.
OneStat also provides statistics for several individual countries, including the US, the UK, and Canada. In the UK, Firefox only has a 5 percent market share, despite the fact that open source software is becoming popular with various UK government agencies. Firefox has 14 percent market share in the U.S. and approximately 17 percent in Canada.
One must bear in mind that browser statistics are by no means entirely accurate. These statistics illuminate important trends in the dynamic world of browser market share, but the significance and implications of those trends and the accuracy of the statistics themselves are entirely debatable. There are many factors that decrease the reliability of such statistics.
The Opera web browser, which is now available for free, is at the bottom of the list with less than 1 percent market share.
Many Opera users configure the browser to emit a user agent string that makes it look like Internet Explorer, so web servers have no way to accurately identify all Opera users.
It is likely that Opera represents far more than 1 percent of the market, but there is no way to know for sure.
[snip]
Firefox market share may increase even more in the immediate future, with Firefox 1.5 scheduled for possible release later this month. Firefox 1.5 Release Candidate 1 hit the 'net yesterday, and it is currently available for download. If no significant bugs are found in the first release candidate, we may see a second release candidate as early as the 11th of November, prior to the official release of Firefox 1.5. The 1.5 release candidate features a number of extremely compelling enhancements, including extensive support for Scalable Vector Graphics rendering, and Javascript 1.6.
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