Unfortunately, even though Apple computers are supposedly better than their Windows brethren, they are used only by a small minority. Also, in contrast to the huge list of Windows based web browsers, there are just a few for the Macintosh system. This, however, makes it kind of easy to get some decent conclusions from the usage stats I’m about to present.
By the way, the usage graphs for Apple Mac web browser are based on visitors to this web site. The stats for yours would probably be different. Though not in double digit percentage points, Mac users still form a sizeable visitor population on this site.
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Usage and stats for Apple Mac web browsers
At the time of writing (July 2010), Apple’s Safari is the most used web browser on Macs. It’s been like this for exactly a year now; before that, the roost was being ruled by Firefox. I don’t think Apple is satisfied with the performance of Safari because its usage has kind of remained flat the past 2 years or so. Yes, the competition is definitely fierce.
As evident from the graph above, the increase in usage of Chrome is the only reason why Safari has over taken Firefox and has now come up to the top. As I’ve pointed out in several other articles and blog posts, Chrome has eaten into Firefox’s share on both Windows and Mac computers. So if Firefox has pulled down, naturally Safari has gone ahead.
For a web browser that doesn’t come with the operating system and needs to be downloaded and installed from the web, Chrome has done a tremendous job of acquiring a tad less than 10% of the Mac web browser usage pie; and all that in a little more than a year’s time! Just goes to show that it is indeed the best web browser. FYI, Chrome is also available for Linux.
As of now, the main fight is been Safari and Firefox which the latter is gradually losing much to the chagrin of its supporters. But I reckon there is a shift in loyalties taking place here. Firefox users are moving on to the Google’ free web browser.
But will Chrome be able take Firefox’s place? Probably not! In the years to come, there are going to be three big players in the Mac web browser space – Safari will be at the top, followed by Chrome and Firefox. That’s simply my guess and may turn out to be incorrect. In fact, I would love to be proved wrong and would be very happy if Chrome, my favourite piece of software and probably the fastest web browser, gets the number one slot.
Usage of other Mac web browsers is kind of minuscule and they don’t even stand a chance in this tussle. Opera and Camino, both good programs, have a devoted following so they will always figure in the usage stats though at a very low level. Internet Explorer for Macintosh was supposedly a neat browser but it’s development has been stopped – it’s actually been dead for many years now.
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