Firefox’s Future Uncertain as it Slips to Third in Browser Battle
Google Could Yank Funding as Chrome Surges Ahead
After providing a steady challenge to long-time web browser king, Internet Explorer, for years, Mozilla's Firefox has now slipped to third place behind Google's Chrome browser.
According to a new report, the Google Chrome web browser, released only two years ago, now owns a 25.69 per cent share of the global browser market. That's just a touch higher than Mozilla's Firefox, currently being used by about 25.23 per cent of web users.
This is an event worth noting. Firefox started out as the hip underdog in a browser race virtually owned by Microsoft's Internet Explorer back in 2004. Although its popularity was initially non-existent, support for the browser rose as web users learned of its extremely useful features, a number of which -- like tabbed browsing -- Internet Explorer simply didn't offer. It was also considered a safer browser to use, with many experts praising Firefox's security options designed to keep web attacks to a minimum.
So, what went wrong? Well, Mozilla just didn't follow up with new, must-have features in later versions of Firefox. Google, by contrast, offered a faster and slicker-looking browser with Chrome in 2009. Certainly, the Google name helped launch Chrome from the start, and it's no real surprise that the browser is now a serious contender in the global market.
The big question now: is Firefox's decline a bad thing? Most experts believe it is. Simply put, Google and Microsoft each have a massive presence online. They’re big companies that, together or apart, have a lot of sway over how we access the worldwide web. But Mozilla's different; for years it's been a major proponent of an "open web," where users are welcome to get creative with development and where any centralization of web access is unwelcome. Unfortunately, in recent years that mantra just hasn't been enough to convince people to use Firefox over its two biggest rivals.
An even bigger problem for Mozilla is revenue. For years Google has been a major supporter of Firefox, and a big reason why it's been able to pick away at Internet Explorer's once-dominant position atop this market. However, with Chrome emerging as a more legitimate contender for that crown, it's not out of the question that Google may re-direct that revenue, a potentially devastating result for Mozilla.
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