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Google Chrome Gains Market Share in February, While Other Browsers Lose

According to web metrics firm NetMarketShare, Google Chrome was the only browser that gained additional market share in the month of February. The data suggests that the Google Chrome usage went up from 5.20% in the month of January to 5.61% in February, that means a 0.41% growth in just one month. All the other browsers saw a decline in market share in the same month.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer lost 0.6% of its share, from 62.18% in January to 61.58% last month. Firefox, on the other hand, saw a 0.18% decrease from 24.41% to 24.23%. Safari shrunk 0.06% last month, from 4.51% to 4.45%. Lastly, Opera went down 0.03%, from 2.38% in January to 2.35% in February.

It appears like Google efforts to improve Chrome are really paying off, while most of the most popular browsers have lost a good percentage of their share.

Let us know if you have switched browsers lately.

Samsung Confirms Google Chrome OS Netbook

Samsung Australia has today confirmed the existence of a soon-to-come Google Chrome OS netbook. With an unknown chipset (though some speculate it could be a Qualcomm 1.5MhZ Snapdragon processor), a 10.1-inch display, 2 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of solid state storage, the specifications of the mobile device don’t look too bad for you average consumer.

As is expected, the device is expected to operate over 3G along with Wi-Fi, and of course will run with Google’s brand-spanking-new Chrome operating system, which is expected to make a public debut some time later this year.

[ via Channel News ]

Google Launches New Chrome Beta For Mac

In typical Google fashion, the California-based search giant today announced in a blog post that a new Beta is available for Google Chrome for Mac. According to the post, the Beta comes packed with features like extensions and bookmark syncing. Previously, bookmark syncing (which allows users to sync their bookmarks on Google browsers installed on different computers) and extensions were not available for Mac users of the web browser.

Google boasts that Mac users will be able to download over 2,200 extensions from Google’s extension gallery and will be provided with a “snappy, safe, and simple browsing experience on the Mac.”

Video demo of the beta is available after the article break. More »

Safari and Google Chrome Gain Web Browser Market Share

The figures are in! According to NetMarketShare, it would appear as if both Apple and Google have had a good past month or so with their own web browsers — Safari and Chrome.

Up from 4.60%, Google’s Chrome browser has managed to crawl to 5.20% market share, whereas Apple’s Safari posted 4.51% market share from a paltry 4.46% the month before. Of course, Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox easily take the cake as the most popular browsers around, though they both lost some ground this past month.

Internet Explorer slightly dipped from 62.69% to 62.18%, and Firefox from 24.62% to 24.41% market share. Surely, not a significant drop in both cases — but we certainly know where those users are migrating in terms of browser usage. More »

Google Chrome 4.0 Now Available For Download

A new stable release of the Google Chrome web browser, version 4.0.249.78, is now available for your downloading pleasure. The announcement comes from the official Google Chrome Blog today in a post written by Chrome product manager Nick Baum.

According to Baum, “all Google Chrome users on PCs can access over 1,500 new features, through our new extension system.” Extensions, much like programs in Firefox, allow users to run little programs which perform various tasks. These of course are available on the official Extension Gallery.

Extensions aside, Chrome 4.0 boasts a stable bookmark sync platform, bumped up from beta in the upgrade. Bookmark Sync allows users to keep their bookmarks, well — synced, over multiple computers. More »

Google Chrome Web Browser Usage Spikes in December — Leaves Safari in the Dust

Google Chrome — it’s an excellent web browser. Only out for approximately 16 months or so, Google’s browser is already gaining traction — and quick. Net Applications, an online metrics firm, has released quite an interesting statistic with regard to both Safari and Chrome. So what’s Safari have to do with Chrome? Well, for starters, Google’s browser has beat out Apple’s Safari browser in the month of December, with Google Chrome commanding 4.63% of the web browsing market share, and Apple’s Safari at 4.46% that same month. More »

Browser Wars: Google Chrome Claims No. 3 Spot, Pushes Safari into 4th

The release of Google Chrome beta  for Mac and Linux last week was one of the best things Google could have done. According to research firm Net Applications, Google’s Chrome browser has already claimed third place in the worldwide Internet browser market share, pushing Apple’s Safari browser to fourth. Google Chrome now proudly stands behind Internet Explorer, the undefeated first place champion, and Firefox, which holds second place.

Net Applications also said that Linux users make up most of the new usage share compared to Mac users. This piece of information alone is already sparking speculations that Chrome might even take second place away from Firefox, which is referred as the Internet Explorer of Linux, considering is the browser of choice of most Linux users.

Likely, Google Chrome will just keep growing and growing from this point on. It could in fact take second place away from Firefox. If you take into account all the future plans Google has for the browser, it all makes sense. Though, that’s something that only time will be able to show.

[ ComputerWorld ]

Google Begins Advertising Chrome Browser in the UK

In effort to get more users into the Google Chrome glory, Google has begun taking out advertisement spots in the United Kingdom to advertise their very own browser. One of the advertisements which found its way to the front page of Metro describes the browser as “A fast, new browser. Made for everyone,” also featuring the Gigantic Chrome logo.

Inside the publication, the advertisement touts Google Chrome’s incognito mode, reasons for creation of the browser, and the way the browser handles tabs, according to The Next Web. More »

Google Chrome Extensions Gallery Goes Live

Boy, it’s certainly a Chrome-orientated day today! Not too long ago today we reported on Chrome Beta for Mac making its debut, and now — we’ve just received word that the Google Chrome Extensions gallery has gone live, as we speculated it would a few days ago.

The news was broken by Google’s own Matt Cutts in a tweet. Here we go with expandability.

Unfortunately for Mac users, the extension gallery does not apply — sorry, though the rest of you can satiate your appetite for extensions here.