Part 1 of 3 The Browser Wars: The numbers
All this week we’ll be digging into the W3i data mine providing research pertaining to browser use and browsing habits of users based on browser and how all this data plays into increasing market awareness for brands looking to utilize desktop tool bars or add-ons. We’ll end the week unpacking user engagement trends on two top browsers, Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Not shockingly, Internet Explorer continues to hold a strong market share across the United States. What is interesting is the statistical differences in outliers like Minnesota where IE’s share is only 50%. What the data indicates are weak spots in the IE market that Firefox can work to erode increasing their own share there. In southern states, IE holds a slight, yet consistently higher market share than in coastal states.
For Firefox to gain ground it looks like their best bet is to tap into the markets that provide outliers and expand strategy from there to neighboring states and regions.
These numbers aren’t necessarily groundbreaking, it shouldn’t come as a shock that Internet Explorer is the most used browser, but data shows an interesting trend in default browser settings, and even more interesting, the browsing habits of consumers using the two.
Tomorrow we’ll look at the Default Browser Setting battle in The Browser Wars, Part two.
For now, what do you feel are contributing factors to browser selection and use, sound off below on that question or anything else brought up in Part 1.
October 26th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Very interesting numbers. For some states I see that the combined share of IE and FF is surprisingly small. For instance, you report Minnesota is 50% IE and 9.8% FF. Assuming these figures are correct, it means 40% of the people in the state is using other browsers. Can you comment on that?
October 27th, 2010 at 8:16 am
Miguel, thanks for the comment. I’m looking into the Minnesota numbers to see what caused the oddity, stand by for feedback.