OneStat.com, the number one provider of real-time web site analytics, today reported that Apple’s Safari browser has shown a fast adoptation rate with a global usage share of 0.11 percent in the first weeks of its public launch. Opera 7 is not so successful as Apple’s Safari. Opera 7 has a global usage share of 0.03 percent in the first weeks of its public launch.
Microsoft still dominates the browser market. As of February 03, 2003, all versions of Microsoft accounted for 95,2 percent of the global usage share market. The total global usage share of Netscape is 2.9 percent and the global usage share of Netscape 7 is 0.64 percent.
The most popular browsers on the web are:
1. Microsoft IE 6.0 – 60.2%
2. Microsoft IE 5.5 – 16.8%
3. Microsoft IE 5.0 – 16.4%
4. Mozilla 1 – 1.2%
5. Netscape Navigator 4.0 – 1.0%
6. Microsoft IE 4.0 – 0.9%
7. Opera 6.0 – 0.7%
More info here.
With MS IE gradually losing market share, can website designers afford to continue to code just for IE, and ignore 1 out of 20 viewers? Their existing code will continue to lose more and more prospective viewers unless they redesign them with more standardized coding. MS may seem like a “sure bet” for today (well, 95%), but it’s a very long horse race that has just begun. I’m not so sure I’d be so short-sighted and fail to code for the future. But, I guess that’s what keeps web developers employed… they can create their own product’s obsolescence.