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Chrome Web Browser Market Share Set to Eclipse Firefox in 2011

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Google Chrome is without doubt the fastest growing web browser in terms of global market share. It was first released as a beta version on September 2008, and in just two years it quickly climbed to third place (behind Internet Explorer and Firefox) eclipsing Apple's Safari. If the current growth of Chrome will remain at a steady pace for the next few months, I roughly calculated that it will surpass Firefox in around last quarter of 2011.

My estimate is based on this data from StatCounter Global Stats:


From the graph above , you can clearly see the steep climb of Google Chrome. On the other hand, Firefox has remained constant and it is likely that it will stay that way for several months or so.

To support my guesstimate, I also gathered some data from web analytics firm Net Applications. The graph below shows the growth pattern of Firefox and Chrome, which is nearly the same as the data shown on StatCounter.


According to Net Applications, the market share of Firefox slightly went down to 24.24% in second quarter of 2010 from 24.40% in Q1. This is the first time that Firefox's market share has dipped since it was first launched in 2004. Meanwhile, Chrome is rapidly climbing up from 5.67% in Q1 to 7.00% in Q2.

Majority of visitors here at Tech Source is still using Firefox, with Google Chrome coming in second and IE in third place (see the graph below).


Although I still use Firefox, my frequently used or my main web browser at the moment is Google Chrome primarily because it now has plenty of web developer extensions. I'm also impressed with its speed and its simple and sleek interface.

If Mozilla Firefox will not step up its game, it certainly won't take long before Chrome can take away its place as the second most popular web browser on the planet. The upcoming Firefox 4 is going to be a make or break release and the future of this popular open-source project could be at stake.

What do you think? You may share with us your thoughts via comment.

9 comments

  1. I think that you could definitely be right. Chrome is so fast and has such a light interface that it's hard not to like. Firefox is starting to catch up, though. They'd been kind of resting on their laurels for a while there. I'm still rooting for them simply because I like their extension system more, and I have a slightly irrational paranoia of Google.

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  2. Strictly based on the trend of the "lines" the conclusion is almost correct. Not totally correct, as it does miss data from IE.
    If exogenous unpredictable and subjective variables were introduced, like the soon to be released Firefox 4, the future evolution of some "the facto" internet standards and the possibility of major agreements among internet big players, the final picture may slightly change.

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  3. I agree with Nathan's fear of Chrome. I think it is relaying every website I pass through, heck every keystroke I enter to the Google mother ship!!

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  4. I was using Chromium from February to June and almost stopped using Firefox. However last month i found several things why Firefox 3.6.xxx is still better. It has much, much better add-ons. Adblock is far better and flashblock is brilliant and making FF browsing faster several my fav websites in real life.

    Peacekeeper and SunSpider can tell you different story but in real life, thanks especially add-ons of FF it works better and faster.

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  5. If FF wants to be "on top" it needs to fix its retarded boot sequence: Why on earth should I have to wait for it to load and update the addons!! When I click on it I want to go to the Web inmediatelly, and not to wait for the program house-keeping, that could be done in the background at some other time.

    This is one of the reasons I prefer Chrome to FF myself.

    Here there is a big contradiction: The author forgets is that Chrome growth is mostly due to IE fall. Maybe the author expects that IE fall has some limit but, if that is the case, will Chrome grow on FF instead of doing it on IE? why should it? Maybe Chrome growth will end at that point.

    And if there is no limit for IE fall, it might be that IE should be more worried of Chrome growing that FF itself, is there a garantee that IE will be the 1rst browser still when Chrome gets closer to FF?

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  6. I think it is not entirely correct to extrapolate the Chrome growth figures to say that Chrome will catch up with FF. Take the figures from beginning 2008 and you would expect that FF would surpass IE in 2012. However the growth of FF weakened in 2009 and 2010.
    So the same will happen to Chrome. At a certain point in time the growth will slow down. We do not know yet when this will happen, and if Chrome has surpassed FF at thattime

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  7. I doubt you can extrapolate linear trends on the browser market. User behavior is more complicated than that. Even so, Chrome will not pass Firefox by the end of 2011.

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  8. I use Firefox because I like all the extensions. My second browser of choice is Opera but it could use some improvement on video playback. I have used Chrome once or twice but I do not like it. Firefox is like a trusted old friend. But that being said lately I have been using Palemoon which is the same as running Firefox but maybe faster?

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  9. Firefox 4 will kill mozilla

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