Safari Holding Steady Despite Windows Boost

May 6th, 2008 at 3:00 PM - News by Jeff Gamet

Appleis 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, Microsoftis 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 Appleis 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 doesnit seem to be making a big impact on the browseris overall market share. With Internet Explorer on the decline at 74.83 percent, however, thereis still plenty of market for Safari grab.