08-01-2011, 01:41 PM

Safari browser growth outpaces Chrome in July

Apple's Safari browser is gaining usage share dramatically, with its largest increase ever during the month of July. Net Applications provides metrics on a regular basis showing how various web browsers are faring in terms of usage, and the July figures showed Safari being used by 8.1 percent of all web users.

That's the largest single increase in a single month for Safari, with iOS devices making up more than a third of the usage for the browser. Safari's growth rate even beat Google's Chrome in July -- Safari's share jumped .6 percent for the month, while Chrome grew at only a .3 percent rate.

Safari has shown continued growth for 17 months straight, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer has been declining. IE still has the lion's share (no pun intended) of the browser market at 52.8%, but has shown solid declines for quite some time. Internet Explorer 9, the latest in the IE family of browsers, is showing continued growth as more businesses adopt Windows 7, but the overall browser share for IE is declining.

Firefox and Opera are also showing declining usage share, with Opera down to a measly 1.7% share -- about where it was in late 2007. Safari still has a long way to go to be on top of the heap, but the gains it is making show that Apple's strength in mobile devices and recent growth in Mac sales is also having a positive effect on Safari's usage.

For a detailed dive into the data, take a look at Net Applications' browser statistics.

Safari browser growth outpaces Chrome in July originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.




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08-01-2011, 01:57 PM

It's not fair to include the iOS version of Safari in this measure since I'm willing to bet good money that the mobile version of Opera isn't included. I say that because I know for a fact that Opera has a huge mobile user base which would definitely give it a greater market share than what is reported there. I don't know the number of Opera Mobile/Mini users but they do have the largest market share (source).

It's interesting to note that a new release of Safari could slow down the rapid growth of Chrome but a new version of Firefox could not. Firefox 4 for instance was released in March and that didn't seem to affect Chrome's growth (I would have used FF5 here but FF4 had much more hype before the release).

08-01-2011, 02:06 PM

Is Opera mini the mobile version of Opera?

08-01-2011, 02:11 PM

Don't hate the player van, hate the game.

Google's coming for your poutine.

08-01-2011, 02:27 PM

Originally Posted by schweb

Don't hate the player van, hate the game.

Google's coming for your poutine.

In addition to this sage advice...it does appear that Opera mini is captured in these statistics. What I can't tell is how IOS Safari is included.

I'll take some of that "good" money...

08-01-2011, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by schweb

Don't hate the player van, hate the game.

Google's coming for your poutine.

Can I just hate everything? It might be easier that way.

Originally Posted by BrianLachoreVPI

In addition to this sage advice...it does appear that Opera mini is captured in these statistics. What I can't tell is how IOS Safari is included.

I'll take some of that "good" money...

Ah! I would give you some of that "good" money but for some reason it seems that Safari and MobileSafari are grouped together while the Opera browsers are not (if they were, Opera's market share would be a whopping 2.9%). They also only counted Opera Mini and not Opera Mobile (they are in fact two different versions). So, no, you can't have my money because they didn't count the mobile versions of Opera into the "Opera" value.

I imagine MobileSafari was counted like other browsers and had that market share simply added to the Safari one.

08-01-2011, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

Ah! I would give you some of that "good" money but for some reason it seems that Safari and MobileSafari are grouped together while the Opera browsers are not (if they were, Opera's market share would be a whopping 2.9%). They also only counted Opera Mini and not Opera Mobile (they are in fact two different versions). So, no, you can't have my money because they didn't count the mobile versions of Opera into the "Opera" value.

I imagine MobileSafari was counted like other browsers and had that market share simply added to the Safari one.

Well - the point was - they didn't forget your mobile version, nor does it change the word 'measly'. What I can't find explicitly stated anywhere is that Mobile Safari has been rolled up. I agree that it's certainly a logical assumption, but you'd think, given the nature of the other metrics they've captured, that they would make a distinction at least at the breakdown level. Maybe it's in the pay to view area...

08-01-2011, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by BrianLachoreVPI

Well - the point was - they didn't forget your mobile version, nor does it change the word 'measly'.

They forgot one of the mobile versions. And, as I've already established, adding in the Mini versions makes the market share jump from measly to whopping. Don't question that logic - it's flawless.

Originally Posted by BrianLachoreVPI

What I can't find explicitly stated anywhere is that Mobile Safari has been rolled up. I agree that it's certainly a logical assumption, but you'd think, given the nature of the other metrics they've captured, that they would make a distinction at least at the breakdown level. Maybe it's in the pay to view area...

I'm with you there. It doesn't seem to be mentioned in the breakdown for the month of July (full list here) which is interesting because they list other mobile browsers (BB, Opera Mini and...wait for it...MS Pocket Internet Explorer). If it is included in the Safari figure, why do they differentiate other mobile browsers that have desktop equivalents (such as Opera and IE)?

Ooooh, there's a browser called "Danger Web Browser." I'll have to look into that, haha.

08-01-2011, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

Ooooh, there's a browser called "Danger Web Browser." I'll have to look into that, haha.

Well - there must be quite a few browsers out there we haven't heard of - according to their FAQ they track around 300 versions.

What browser versions does Net Market Share track and report?

We report on all browser versions that have measurable market share, which is currently about 300. We also report on all major browser editions (browsers based on extending Internet Explorer or Firefox, for example).

Pretty soon you'll be in here as the Danger Browser "evangelist"...

You'd also think that since they do have breakdowns by OS and mobile platforms that they would segment Mobile Safari. I still can't find it anywhere.

08-01-2011, 03:44 PM

Anybody here use Android? Because last I knew, the browser on it wasn't called "Chrome".

08-02-2011, 09:15 AM

It's called "Browser," not Chrome.