Google’s internet browser, Chrome, is now more popular than Apple’s Safari, according to data collected in December 2009. The search giant’s browser, launched in September 2008, was used by 4.63 per cent of web users, compared to Apple’s market share of 4.46 per cent. Nearly two-thirds of all web browsers, however, are versions of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (62.69 per cent), according to online services firm Net Applications. Mozilla Firefox was in second place on 24.61 per cent, distantly followed by Google.
Wresting third place from Apple, however, is a milestone for Google, and coincides with the company launching a major advertising campaign for the browser across Europe. This has used major billboard sites across Britain, and has also included producing a special wraparound supplement for the free Metro newspaper. Searches online for “Google Chrome”, “Chrome” and “Google Browser” almost doubled in mid-December when the campaign was at its height, and the increased usage figures indicate that a large number of people searching for Chrome online have gone on to download and use the product
Google claims that speed and stability are the main selling points behind Chrome, which is also designed to take up as little of the users’ screen space as possible, allowing them to see more of the web in one browser window. Each browser tab also acts like a separate programme, so if a website crashes the tab it does not force render the rest of the browser unusable.
The latest versions of most other browsers, however, also offer similar features or options, and Chrome is itself derived from a version of Mozilla’s Firefox. Google is also the source of the majority of Mozilla’s revenue.
With the growth of Google’s mobile phone operating system, Android, and the imminent launch of the high-profile Nexus One handset, the search giant is focusing on expanding outside its traditional areas of expertise.
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