Safari Gains (Some) Ground With Windows Users

Safari Gains (Some) Ground With Windows Users

Friday, May 02, 2008 - by Daniel A. Begun
NetApplications.com's Market Share reports a large spike in the percentage of Windows users using Apples' Safari browser for the months of March and April. They theorize that this signifiant spike is a direct result of Apple's sneaky approach of getting Windows users to unwittingly install Safari 3.1 and have it automatically set as the default browser:

"On March 18th, Apple released the Safari 3.1 web browser for Windows and the Mac. With the release, Apple also included Safari 3.1 with Apple's Software Update service on Windows. It was labeled as an update with the option to install pre-selected. The update has been pushed to millions of Windows users of Apple's other software products, like iTunes. Normally, Apple's Software Update service is not used for delivery of new products. Clearly, this is a calculated risk by Apple that has annoyed and/or alienated some users."

Apple eventually reacted to the backlash and made the option to install Safari on Windows systems more transparent. Regardless, the impact was a sizable increase in the number of Windows users surfing the Web with Safari in the last two months.



With less than one percent of Windows users using Safari, it is still far from giving Firefox or Internet Explorer a run for the money. The increasing popularity of Apple products such as the iPhone, Macbooks, iMacs, and iTunes, however, combined with Apple's clever marketing campaigns, might make some Windows users curious enough to see what Safari has to offer.
Via: NetApplications.com | News Archive | Tags: Wind, Safari
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Comments

By Lev_Astov on May 2, 2008

Morons. How is it Apple has avoided the EU's anti-trust crushing hammer so far?

By Crisis Causer on May 2, 2008

Because less than 1% is hardly makes them a trust.  Apple has been gaing ground lately, but everything Microsoft is still so much bigger there is no comparison.

By ice_73 on May 2, 2008

i dont understand why it would matter, i dont see how a company could make money from a web brower when the browser is free. can some one explain this?

By RyuGTX on May 3, 2008

I noticed this sneaky download when I was updating my iTunes software a few months ago. I don't need another web browser. Firefox suits my needs.

 

ice_73:
i dont understand why it would matter, i dont see how a company could make money from a web brower when the browser is free. can some one explain this?

I wish I could answer this question. But I have no clue either. Maybe they aren't making money. Who said they were making money in the first place? Or maybe it is like an entrance drug. They get you hooked on Safari, then next thing you know, you are buying an Apply laptop. lol

By coolzonestefan on May 4, 2008

Safari is a very low quality browser for Windows.I really do not know why people use it 

By Dev on May 4, 2008

ice_73:
i dont understand why it would matter, i dont see how a company could make money from a web brower when the browser is free. can some one explain this?
 

 Having millions of people using your web browers can be a profitable business. Where does the revenue come from? Look to the top right of your browser and chances are there is a search box for Google, Yahoo, Microsoft etc. Each time you use that search box the search engine company pays Mozilla/Apple/Microsoft. Mozilla make about $70 million in revenue from this. Just to note though Mozilla said this figure was inaccurate but not my order of magnitude. Also revenue comes from the pre-loaded bookmarks such as the BBC RSS on Firefox.

I use that box the whole time, the key combination is Ctrl+K or Command+K. It's faster than having to load Google and the predictive text thing seems to read your mind!

-Dev

By Crisis Causer on May 4, 2008

Ctrl+K.  That's awesome, I never knew of that shortcut before.  Thanks Dev.Smile

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