While there’s no denying the increase in popularity alternative browsers are experiencing in relation to Internet Explorer, none have unseated Microsoft’s ubiquitous tool as the top browser in use. In fact, while these other browsers have taken chunks out of IE’s marketshare, they haven’t been able to unseat the king, until recently that is. That’s right, Internet Explorer was knocked off the top of the hill by Google’s Chrome browser.
According to StatCounter, Chrome became the king of the browsers on Sunday, March 18. In order to gain such a position, statistics from India, Russia, and Brazil were considered. It should be noted that, after Chrome’s high water mark, things receded back to normal, finding Internet Explorer once again on top of the browser pile. That being said, from StatCounter’s perspective, Chrome’s one-day rule is notable:
“While it is only one day, this is a milestone,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. He added that Chrome still faces a battle to unseat its main rivals including IE and Firefox in many regions. Chrome remains in 2nd or 3rd place in China, United States and Germany, for example.
“Whether Chrome can take the lead in the browser wars in the long term remains to be seen, however the trend towards Chrome usage at weekends is undeniable. [Emphasis added]
StatCounter’s data supports the weekend trend idea concerning Google Chrome, making the next question inevitable: Is Chrome a weekend lover kind of browser? Is it something people use when they are in the privacy of their own home with no co-workers around? If so, why all the secrecy? StatCounter’s graph reflecting this kind of Chrome usage:
It should also be noted that while alternative browsers are making dents in IE’s market share, in the North America region, Microsoft’s browser is still king. Noticeably so:
Considering the shift away from home computing to mobile web browsing, do these numbers even matter? Would it be more pertinent to include the data for mobile browsers? With that in mind, it’s clearly a two-man race as iOS and Android fight it out for mobile browsing supremacy:
Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Mobile Browser Market Share
With all of this in mind, what is your browsing tool of choice? Are you chained to a home-bound computer or do you do your browsing on the go with your smartphone?
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