Safari marketshare triples on Windows. Well duh!
According to Fortune Magazine, Apple has tripled it’s marketshare for Safari on Windows from .07% to .21%. Though it should be obvious to note that this is surely due to the fact that Apple pushed Safari for Windows as part of its iTunes and Quicktime software updates.
I will be just about LIVID if I hear Steve talking about how they quadrupled marketshare on Safari for Windows at his next keynote. What it basically comes down to, is that if you have a Windows machine, and you have ever used Quicktime or you own an iPod (which is like what? 95% of you?) Apple basically pushed Safari as a software update and had it selected by default. The average user left it checked in, and the software update installed it. I guess Apple figures, “Hey if we install it on a few tens of millions of machines, we’re bound to have SOME people actually use it!”
Now let me be honest, if I’m using Windows, I actually DO use Safari! It’s fast, stable and renders sites far better than Firefox does in Windows. Though on my MacBook, I’m a Firefox 3 guy. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t piss me off that Apple would pull a total malware trick by pushing software on unknowing people. The only thing worse they could have done was to have Safari set itself as the default browser upon installation.
Maybe if you just advertised it a bit more, people would have used it on their own, now you’ve done nothing but make yourselves look bad, and give yourselves a nice pretty stat to make a graph out of at the WWDC keynote. Good job.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 am
This survey is use share, not install share. That requires people to launch it and keep browsing with it, not just have it on their disk.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:20 am
True, but like I said in the post:
Apple figures, “Hey if we install it on a few tens of millions of machines, we’re bound to have SOME people actually use it!”
So apparently some people got the update, and decided to use it. I’m not complaining, it’s a far better browser than IE7 in my opinion, and unquestionably better than IE6.
It’s still a scummy move on Apple’s part to try and increase marketshare though.