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Chrome browser 'is becoming Number Two'

Could supplant Firefox, analysts predict tight finish

Google's Chrome browser will edge past Mozilla Firefox in a matter of months, web stats poking firms have concluded. Irish company StatCounter foresees the Google browser becoming the second most used browser on the net by December.

In the StatCounter predictions, relayed to Computer World, Chrome will sweep 26.6 per cent of the market share by December and Firefox will be sitting on 25.3 per cent. Internet Explorer will retain its dominance through user inertia, holding approximately 40 per cent.

The actual measured statistics for last month show that Chrome is closely tailing Firefox. The Google browser's global average user share for September was 23.6 per cent, while Firefox's stood at 26.8 per cent. IE, meanwhile, was at 41.7 per cent.

Statcounter gets its figures by tracking browser usage on the free analytics tools that it offers websites. Other website trackers, such as Net Applications, have a more conservative estimate of Chrome's rise, but still predict the same trends. It puts Firefox with a 22.6 per cent share of desktop browser usage, and Chrome at 15.5 per cent.

In their view the takeover would be slower too. Using Net Applications numbers, Chrome could have a 17.8 per cent share by the end of 2011, short of Firefox's projected 22.3 per cent, but Chrome would top out Firefox for second place sometime in mid-2012.

It seems that Internet Explorer is likely to retain its lead because of the static number of enterprise users who never change their browser from their BOFHs' default.

Safari is the most used browser on mobile with 55.5 per cebt of the market share according to Net Applications. ®

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