Google’s relentless march to the top of the ‘browser mountain’ isn’t slowing down one bit and its next target seems to be Firefox.
According to the latest assessments, in 2011 Google Chrome grew +7.26% to an overall market share of 17.62%. This places Google chrome, just a 5% back on Firefox which currently has over 22.5% market share of the overall browser market. Number one is still Microsoft Explorer which still commands a solid 50% of the browser market and whose dominance seems set to continue well into the coming years.Other browsers in the mix are Apple’s Safari which incidentally is top mobile browser. The question for Firefox though is what went wrong? Just a few short years ago, Firefox had gained so much traction, had so much momentum that many felt it was a matter of time that the open-source browser overtook Explorer. This didn’t happen though for many reasons, not least of which was the constant bugs that were associated with Firefox. In the last few years, Firefox has gotten chunkier, heavier and slower. At the same time, Chrome has got leaner, faster and more intuitive.
I suppose then it’s not matter of if Chrome will overtake Firefox but when. The fact that it leapt 7% in 2011 leads to the obvious conclusion that by 2012, Firefox will become the number 3 most used browser on the web.
Do you think Chrome will eventually surpass Firefox? Share your prediction in the comments below.