As recent statistics have shown, there is some fairly significant change happening in the sphere of web browser provision. Not only is Chrome's rise now seeing it claim the third-highest placing of all browsers (previously consistently held by Safari), but the giant of the sector, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, is losing users super-fast. Unsurprisingly, alarmist headlines about the death of IE have sprung forth...
Despite losing around 0.9% points per month at the moment, IE continues to hold 63% of the market - though some predictions (such as those from analysts at Net Applications) suggest this could fall to below 50% by May. However, the stats also show that 21% of all users (i.e. one-third of the IE bunch) are still using the older IE 6. The obvious conclusion here is that a significant proportion of web surfers simply don't care a hoot for what browser they use, and just want the simplest option out there - which is often the one that came bundled with the OS when they bought a PC.
There is of course nothing wrong with this position, and leads one to consider why the browser market isn't even more diversified along the lines of user needs. After all, doesn't it seem odd that the same few browsers attempt to cater for all kinds of web users - from programmers and IT workers, to casual email checkers and 1-hour a week browsers? Is it possible that IE's fate is to become the browser of choice for those more casual users, while Chrome and Mozilla conquer the more web-savvy crowd (i.e. those who are bothered enough about the browser they use to download a new one)?
Looking at Google's ad campaign for Chrome it seems not. After all, they're using some very public channels to get their product out there (there are numerous billboards for example just in my local area here in Liverpool), which suggests that Google is aiming to usurp IE's dominance for themselves, rather than to simply corner just one market niche.
Either way, I expect come this time next year we'll be looking at a market sector still led by IE, with Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox roughly even - and not too far behind. Perhaps not the greatest news for programmers who will need to do that extra bit of compatibility testing for websites and apps in these new browsers, but nonetheless a significant step forward for the cause of enhancing the browsing experience to match other developments such as increased bandwidth, video-streaming etc etc (where would we be without multiple tab browsers for example in these times?).
Whatever happens it is certainly the case that things here are changing more rapidly than they ever have done before, accelerated by the entrance of Chrome onto the scene and also, as always, by the jumps in bandwidth speeds which transform the capabilities of the web - and the demands placed on the browser. This will certainly not be the last we cover on this topic for 2010, so stay posted!
Dejan Levi
