What explains the trend of using browsers?

Introduction and general concepts

Mosaic is the world's first popular graphical browser. Netscape and Internet Explorer took its code as a basis and promoted their products. So there was competition in the market of navigators. Each development team had its own development strategies, including indenting from HTML standards, and pricing policies. But not all survived, and not all achieved the desired success.

I will try to find out the reasons for the trend of using those or other browsers using data from statcounter.com.
Immediately make a reservation that I will be interested in only the most common programs: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. Therefore, please do not remind me of the existence of Konqueror, Links, Dillo.
In connection with the automatic update policy introduced by Google developers, I will not be divided into versions of this or that product. That is, in the numbers under Chrome there will be all versions up to the 11th, Firefox all up to the 4th.
The essence is also not in the technical review of technologies, so I will not stoop to the level of the engine (WebKit, Trident, Gecko, Presto ...).
Well, let's get started?

World situation

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I think that this situation will not surprise anyone, and that IE is clearly the leader of the top five. This is explained by the fact that over 91% of operating systems are Windows (XP, Vista, 7). And that by default they are exactly what version of IE. One can only be surprised that only 44.5% use IE, knowing the monopoly of Microsoft.
Microsoft gives 46.5% of the market to other browsers, for various reasons: the users do not like their products, the vulnerability of the early IE family, the lack of support for most of the web standards, as well as company policies and so on.
Growth at Safari and Opera does not confuse their fellows, they account for less than 7% of the market. The first one is mainly used on Mac and is therefore not easily accessible. And the second has no trump cards for its distribution, except for mobile platforms. They are similar in distribution for smartphones.
Firefox is developed by a large community and distributed its source code. He has reached the peak of his popularity. After all, it is used by almost a third of users, namely, 29.7%. Only innovation can affect its growth.
Chrome is new to browsers, and judging by the trend, it is clearly haunted by Microsoft. Exactly a year ago, Chrome accounted for 8.1%, and with IE 61.3%. Today, together they divide 62.8%, that is, by 1.5 points more, and the newcomer more than doubled his position and stopped at around 18.3%. That is, in fact, eats up the market corporation from Redmond. Chrome probably owes its growth to the search engine of its native manufacturer, the policy of silent updates and the compliance with web technologies.

Geopolitical indicators

Asia

• Chrome: 17.9%
• Firefox: 28.4%
• IE: 50.1%
• Opera: 1.5%
• Safari: 1.4%

Africa

• Chrome: 16.6%
• Firefox: 35.1%
• IE: 43.8%
• Opera: 2.9%
• Safari: 1.3%

Europe

• Chrome: 18.1%
• Firefox: 36.8%
• IE: 35.3%
• Opera: 4.2%
• Safari: 4.9%

Oceania

• Chrome: 16.3%
• Firefox: 26.5%
• IE: 44.0%
• Opera: 0.7%
• Safari: 11.8%

North America

• Chrome: 15.3%
• Firefox: 25.3%
• IE: 47.6%
• Opera: 0.6%
• Safari: 10.5%

South America

• Chrome: 26.2%
• Firefox: 25.9%
• IE: 46.3%
• Opera: 0.5%
• Safari: 0.9%

The following indicators can be distinguished from these six regions:
Opera - 4.2% is the highest in Europe, hinting at its country of origin, Norway.
The Cupertino navigator is not only popular in its home country - 10.5%, but also in Oceania, where English-speaking Australia and New Zealand constitute more than 2/3 of the population - 11.8%. Such figures are explainable only because GDP (Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin) is close to the US WFP, and accordingly Apple technology is more accessible to them.
IE’s popularity is comparable in all regions, from 43.8% to 47.6%, except Europe. It was there that IE in second place with 35.3% of users. The historical reason is that Microsoft has been opposing the European Competition Commission since 1993 (EU Competition Commission). Several of these confrontations ended in losses and fines against Microsoft. And on this is based public opinion on the products of this company.
Firefox will repeat the IE trend, from 25.3% to 28.4%. In addition, again, Europe (36.8%) and Africa (35.1%). In Europe, uses the image of Microsoft. And in Africa it is associated with the colonial past and current European influence: direct investment, export of corporate policy, adaptation to customer standards (Europeans).
In turn, Google's navigator is used by 15.3% and 18.1% of users, with the exception of South America, where Chrome is used by more than a quarter of the population (26.2%). In my opinion, it just wins at the expense of the search engine, where almost 96% of requests fall on it. There are also a large number of developing countries that are focused on cheaper Android smartphones. And as we see, it comes partly on Firefox.

Economic indicators

BRIC countries

A group of four rapidly developing countries. Title proposed by the analyst Goldman-Sachs in 2001 in the abbreviation BRIC: Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Brazil:

• Chrome: 25.8%
• Firefox: 26.9%
• IE: 46.0%
• Opera: 0.4%
• Safari: 0.7%

Do not forget that the development of the country is based on agriculture. What could be an indicator of a less developed IT population. Accordingly, the browser from Microsoft still prevails.
Firefox and IE are losing ground to Chrome thanks to the same famous search engine.
It is worth noting that, after all, more than half prefer alternative solutions. We can accordingly assume that this figure is achieved thanks to the aviation industry. I remind you that Embraer is in the top four of world manufacturers and a direct competitor to the Dry SSJ-100.
Opera and Safari in view of their popularity will remain without comment, as they repeat the trends of South America.

Russia:

• Chrome: 16.0%
• Firefox: 32.3%
• IE: 20.6%
• Opera: 29.0%
• Safari: 1.7%

The USSR left us with an inquiring mind. Yes, and a single mind, and the mean choice of goods in those days, emancipates the mind. I think that these are important factors that explain such a distribution in the market of observers.
In IE, we see a monopoly, and we want to get rid of everything “by default”. In addition, anyone who has ever been a freelancer in the web layout, talked with those, or heard of those, obviously, and the enemy will not advise such "evil". Not to mention the enikeyschiki who for the beer, or for dinner, clean the computers that "break themselves." Admins that influence the security policy of their institution. As well as advanced users who wish that modern technologies are perfectly displayed in their browsers.
Firefox was adopted as a legacy of Netscape, the main alternative to IE.
Opera attracted many when it released internal tabs, so as not to produce them on the taskbar. And if only because many people liked to use a paid browser for free, it also produced Russian groups in the form of keys.
Chrome is just beginning to gain momentum, but already confidently claims to be IE.
Safari, in turn, is spread thanks to the Mac lineup. Designers of all countries unite for the white cases of these powerful devices. Because Photoshop began its ascent on the "poppies". And besides him, a couple of other programs and the optimal time of use, there is little that is spinning on it. But this article has nothing to do with, and the iPhone itself is close at hand and my wife’s iPad 2.

India:

• Chrome: 26.6%
• Firefox: 33.0%
• IE: 36.5%
• Opera: 2.8%
• Safari: 0.9%

Based on the developed statements on the Indian code ... no, not on the scientific. Based on the fact that India is a large stock of cheap intellectual labor, it is easier to comment on the above data.
Firefox and IE actually go hand in hand and share two users out of three. The popularity of IE as in other cases due to the default settings.
Chrome eats the IE market and basically thanks again to its search engine and not modest reminders that Chrome is safer than IE, on the main search page.
Opera, in turn, is popular thanks to communicators and smartphones.

China:

• Chrome: 4.5%
• Firefox: 3.2%
• IE: 87.3%
• Opera: -, -%
• Safari: 0.6%

The trend in China is related to cultural characteristics. The people are simply influenced and very patriotic. This is one of the countries in which Google is not the first search engine in the hit parade, only 23.8% of requests. While native Baidu handles 73.8% of search queries. In such circumstances, you can understand the position of Chrome.
In principle, all navigators, except IE, have difficulty introducing into the Chinese market. What is so unusual about the browser from Microsoft?
It must be borne in mind that 82% of the operating system is XP, which comes with the same IE 6. Since the transition to Windows 7 is not so advanced, we can assume that the browser replacement is not automatic when installing the system.
But in the browser market in China, there is Maxthon, one of the few using the Trident engine. In the first versions it was defined by default as IE. And maybe that's why the percentage of using IE is so high.

Conclusions

I admit that the data obtained by the People's Republic of China is very difficult to comment on, since they do not seem to me to be 100% reliable.
It should be noted that the Russian market is the most diverse and mainly depends on the tastes of each. That is, it is just close to the ideal: “I love fish — I eat fish, I like meat — I eat meat, I love vegetables — I eat vegetables.” What can be said about other countries or regions: “Our tribe has been eating human meat for 8 centuries now, and you shouldn’t stand out, I have a recipe for you too.”
According to general trends, Chrome wants its place, and thanks to a good product and excellent PR through a search engine, it is moving.
Also, do not forget that the Linux Community in Old Europe is quite large. Thanks to Mandriva and Suse, who are promoting alternative Microsoft solutions in the form of Firefox, Chrome ...
Unfortunately, I was not able to come to a single trend. And to say that all BRICs use such a browser will not be correct. That is, you can not take into account only economic indicators. But after re-reading myself, I realized that trends are based mainly on cultures from different countries.
I hope that this analysis will allow developers, as well as startups to pay attention to the features of the browser markets on different continents. And even if this analysis is not complete and I’m missing any features, it will serve as a reminder to those who take on international projects.

Sources

Wikipedia.org
Statcounter.com