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Safari Holding Steady Despite Windows Boost

by , 1:20 PM EDT, May 7th, 2008

Apple's Safari Web browser has been holding relatively steady in 2008 with about 5.81 percent of the browser market despite the boost it received from additional Windows users this year. In comparison, Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser has been gradually declining compared to its position last year while Firefox has been slowly gaining market share.

Safari held 5.82 percent of the browser market in January, according to data from Market Share. In February, that number dropped to 5.7 percent, and then climbed back up to 5.82 percent in March after Apple began offering Safari 3.1 as part of its software update service for Windows users.

While Safari 3.0 never managed to climb over a 0.07 percent market share, Safari 3.1 for Windows climbed up to a 0.23 percent share by the end of April -- most likely a result of Apple's move to include the browser with other updates.

The sudden increase in Safari for Windows users could turn out to be good news for Apple, but for now it doesn't seem to be making a big impact on the browser's overall market share. With Internet Explorer on the decline at 74.83 percent, however, there's still plenty of market for Safari grab.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:spudgeek Posts: 5 Joined: 18 Mar 2008
Subject: Safari on Windows

I like Safari on Windows, it's fast and reliable. It does have an annoying aspect though... I cannot scroll pages with TouchPad Virtual Scrolling, i.e. scrolling with one touch vertically or horizontally along the side or bottom of my touchpad. This works fine in almost every other Windows application (MS Office apps; Adobe Reader; Firefox, IE, etc.)
As a consequence my favorite Windows browser is Firefox.
Firefox has other benefits provided by a multitude of cool plugins, but it's not quite as fast as Safari.

SG

Close Name:spudgeek Posts: 5 Joined: 18 Mar 2008
Subject: Safari on Windows

I like Safari on Windows, it's fast and reliable. It does have an annoying aspect though... I cannot scroll pages with TouchPad Virtual Scrolling, i.e. scrolling with one touch vertically or horizontally along the side or bottom of my touchpad. This works fine in almost every other Windows application (MS Office apps; Adobe Reader; Firefox, IE, etc.)
As a consequence my favorite Windows browser is Firefox.
Firefox has other benefits provided by a multitude of cool plugins, but it's not quite as fast as Safari.

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