Chrome edges out Safari, iPhone OS continues growth in December - report

Apple ends the year with solid iPhone OS growth, a slowing - but stable Mac OS X market share, and its Safari web browser being edged out by Google's Chrome.

In its final report of 2009, web metrics firm Net Applications found that the iPhone OS has continued to gain in market share, with 0.43 percent of the total OS market, a 20 percent increase over November's numbers. This falls in line with expected growth in iPhone sales over last quarter's 7.4 million units. Apple is believed to have shipped up to 11.3 million units this quarter, a number that represents a more than 50 percent increase over the previous quarter. Other analysts place this number at a more conservative 8.8 million units sold.

Mac OS X has plateaued as of December with a 5.11 percent market share, a increase of around 8.5 percent from its January 2009 numbers, but nearly identical to November's amount. These numbers also fall in line with estimates, with Apple projected to sell 2.85 million Macs this quarter, compared to 3.05 million last quarter.

Google's new Chrome browser has passed Apple's Safari in December with a 4.63 percent market share compared to Safari's 4.46. This places Chrome in third-place behind number-two Firefox with around 25 percent and first-place Internet Explorer at more than 60 percent.

A beta version of Chrome for Mac was released early in December, more than a year after the debut of the Windows version. In speed tests, Safari was found to be slightly faster than Chrome, and twice as fast as Firefox.

Overall, Apple is expected to have a "blowout" quarter due to its strength in all major categories of its business, and is expected to beat Wall Street estimates by a fair margin.

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160 Comments

gazoobee

said about 14 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

... Google's new Chrome browser has passed Apple's Safari in December with a 4.63 percent market share compared to Safari's 4.46. This places Chrome in third-place behind number-two Firefox with around 25 percent and first-place Internet Explorer at more than 60 percent. ...

I think Chrome browser share will continue to grow, but it won't be at Safari's expense. It offers nothing to the average Safari user but promises to replace Firefox completely once the plug-in mania gets started.

I would bet money that as Chrome usage rises, Firefox and MSIE use goes down. MSIE will likely stay stronger too because the reasons behind it's use have less to do with user preference than they do business. Those that are looking for simple and minimal though will likely stay with Safari.

fjrabon

said about 14 years ago

"Overall, Apple is expected to have a "blowout" quarter due to its strength in all major categories of its business, and is expected to beat Wall Street estimates by a fair margin."

This doesn't even make sense. Expected by who? How can apple be expected to beat expectations? That doesn't even make logical sense. If you mean to say that some commentators believe that some other analysts projections are low, that's one thing (which is like saying nothing at all, because its just saying that not everybody agrees on apple). But its stated in this article as if the general consensus on wall street is that apple is expected to beat expectations, which is logically impossible.

fjrabon

said about 14 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gazoobee

I think you're correct, but for the wrong reasons. Safari and IE are "default browsers" and people who use them generally use them because it's "just what their computer does". Not to say that Safari isn't a vastly superior browser to IE, but very few people decide to use safari in a positive sense. They just use it because that is the macs default web browser.

I've used both chrome and safari for the PC and mac and I like chrome better for both. Chrome is as simple as it needs to be and can now use add ons to the extent that you need them (unlike IE which has way too much going on and is too difficult to slim down). I like Safari, but I think Chrome offers everything that safari does and a little more.

However, Chrome's real competition is the "choice browser" firefox. People who use firefox use it because they don't like IE or, to a lesser extent, Safari and they actually go out and seek a different browser. Google will undoubtedly leverage the google name and the fact that chrome is probably the better browser into continually cutting into firefox's market share.

To me, that's why chrome's market share will cut into firefox and not really IE or Safari. There will always be a large number of people who are perfectly happy with their default browser and will never even consider other options, so IE and Safari will always have a built in market share (as long as things are structured as they are now).

Finally google will eventually have chrome OS as the default browser on some netbooks, which will also cut into default browser market share, but that's too far down the road to really have any idea of what percentage market share chrome OS and thus chrome browser as the default browser will have.

cliphord

said about 14 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by FJRabon

You don't read the WSJ much, huh? "Expectations" were "set" in the past. Analysts now feel that Apple will exceed those expectations. I don't see how that's "logically impossible."

For example, in Jan. 2009, my parents and I expected me to graduate college. As summer arrived, not only did I graduate, I got a full-time job. My parents and I agree that I exceeded our expectations.

ireland

said about 14 years ago

I can't go onto YouTube without getting bet around the place by Chrome adverts. I like Google and all that but this is the first instance where I feel they are going a bit too far. Sort of abusing their power.

I wouldn't mind but I think Chrome is a great browser.