29 Jun Chrome Gains, Edges Out Safari
Google’s Chrome web browser has, for the first time ever, surpassed Apple’s Safari browser in the United States according to some new browser share data released Monday by StatsCounter.
Chrome now accounts for 8.97 percent of U.S. web traffic, putting it ahead of Safari which is used by 8.88 of U.S. web surfers. In the worldwide arena, Chrome has had the lead since September, 2009.
That’s not much of margin, and it may well be that when Safari 5, released at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference earlier in June, is added to the numbers, Chrome will slip again.
But considering that Chrome has been around less than two years and Safari has over seven under its belt, even matching Safari’s numbers is impressive.
Of course the two titans of the internet have little to fear from either browser. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still lays claim to 52 percent of the market with Firefox picking up the slack at 28.5 percent.
The numbers come from Stats Counter, which also has global statistics that put Chrome well ahead of Safari. But, as with any market share survey, take these numbers with a grain of salt. Browser usage routinely fluctuate from month to month and it may well be to early to say Chrome is really ahead of Safari. Here’s StatsCounter’s methodology, if you’re interested.
This does possibly mean good news for Google’s WebM video codec, though. Given that Safari is now the only browser lacking support for the new open WebM video codec, Chrome’s rise may mean that early adopters of HTML5 video will treat WebM as a “works-everywhere” solution.
After all, Safari’s tiny market share is in the same range as the number of users without JavaScript, and clearly that group is routinely ignored.
This article originally appeared on Webmonkey.com, Wired’s site for all things web development, browsers, and web apps. For more from Webmonkey, follow the links at the end of the article.