Anyone remember Netscape? The browser that started it all, but was quickly overtaken by Microsoft’s internet Explorer in 1998, and dominated the browser market with a 95% market share until 2004. An article on Ars Technica revealed that total browser market share for Internet Explorer fell to 49.59% in October 2011. Mozilla Firefox has a 21% share, and the Google Chrome browser in third place with a 16% share, and Apple’s Safari bringing up 4th place with a nearly 9% share. This comparison combines both desktop and mobile browsing.
What is most interesting in this article is the impact that mobile browsing is making to the overall numbers. Looking strictly at the mobile platform, the lion’s share is owned by Apple Safari Mobile at 62%, followed by Opera mini at 19%, Android at 13%, Symbian at 3%, Blackberry at 2%, and IE at a measly 0.16%. This does not bode well for Microsoft and it’s Windows Mobile 7 platform.
Considering that Microsoft is betting the farm, at least as far as the next desktop operating system, Windows 8, on tighter integration with the “Metro” tiled desktop of the mobile operating system, what we really may be seeing is the beginning of the end of Microsoft’s dominance of the computer marketplace.
Stay tuned – this will get interesting.
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About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com