Google Chrome already represents more than 10% of gdgt’s traffic!
Damn, if our numbers are anything to go by (and I’m not saying they are), the adoption rate of Google’s Chrome among the geek-set has been absolutely astonishing. Tomorrow will mark gdgt’s first week (in super soft launch mode, anyway), and about a week and a half for Chrome — and Google already represents more than ten percent of the thousands of views we’ve gotten.
Kind of reminds me back in 2004 when Calacanis wrote a totally breathless post about Firefox and Engadget, wondering if its 20% slice would become the norm in a couple of years (it clearly has). If gdgt’s first audiences are anything like the same super-early vanguard that Engadget’s audience was in 2004, it stands to reason that Google’s going to absolutely dominate the browser market in the near future. Of course, I’m also really curious to see some larger data sets on this!
Update: At the request of reader Leo, I’ve segmented browser stats by just Windows. They’re not all that different! (In fact, proportionally, Chrome performs a little better.) Here’s the top five Windows browsers for gdgt in week one:
- Firefox / Windows: 57.91%
- Internet Explorer / Windows: 21.21%
- Chrome / Windows: 17.79%
- Opera / Windows: 1.83%
- Safari / Windows: 0.83%
I don’t know how people are sticking with Chrome for more than just playing around. It was so hangy for me anytime I switched tabs or minimized/maximized. I like the idea of it, but I think they have a ways to go.
Comment by Scott — Wednesday, September 10, 2008 @ 7:40 pm
Be sure to segment you data to show only windows users… THEN see the actual stats. Props for using Google Analytics BTW.
Comment by Leo — Wednesday, September 10, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
Leo, interesting! Updated with that stat.
Comment by Ryan Block — Wednesday, September 10, 2008 @ 8:46 pm
It makes you wonder - which geeks are using IE?
Comment by joel — Wednesday, September 10, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
Here’s a larger data set for you:
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?sample=21&qprid=43&qpcustom=Chrome+0.2
Chrome 0.2 peaked a couple of days after launch with just over 1.25% of the market an has since fallen down to bout 0.75%.
That’s a lot of users, I’d wager something like 4 million users active on their top day and probably about 2-3 million active users today.
According to those reports (Net Applications’) and statements from them in the press, it does appear that most of that came at the expense of IE (Google advertised Chrome to IE users on its somewhat popular ;-) website, google.com) and a significant chunk of those early testers look to be moving back to their earlier browser this week.
Certainly tech-centric sites will see higher numbers, just as you’re seeing over 50% for Firefox when more inclusive data puts Firefox at closer to 20%. I, for example, an seeing about 10% Chrome usage at my tiny blog with pretty much everyone else being Firefox users.
- A
Comment by Asa Dotzler — Wednesday, September 10, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
Thanks Asa! I think it might have been helpful for you to disclose you’re, like, THE Firefox evangelist, but the data’s definitely useful.
Comment by Ryan Block — Thursday, September 11, 2008 @ 12:13 am
Those are some interesting numbers. If that reflects the usage across the internet it doesn’t look all that good for Infernal Deplorer. I like Firefox on my PC and Safari on my Mac although Firefox 3 seems to have improved a lot on Mac and I may start using it there. I haven’t tried Chrome and I don’t know if I will or not.
Comment by Dale — Friday, September 12, 2008 @ 4:06 am
Sorry, I figured that people already know who I am.
I’ve been with Mozilla for about 10 years and so I’m a bit more than just a Firefox evangelist. I was working on the Mozilla project for as many years before I helped make Firefox as I have since.
Next time I comment in a blog I’ll be sure to brag about being a Firefox co-founder and my long history making the Web a better place :-)
Comment by Asa Dotzler — Tuesday, September 23, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
Haha, fair enough!
Comment by Ryan Block — Tuesday, September 23, 2008 @ 11:04 pm
I am using chrome for the time being. I went bock to FF3 and it seemed slow. I was shocked. I went back to IE7 and it crashed :P.
The bad thing about chrome is that it doesn’t work with my track pads scroll
Comment by SteveBIRK — Friday, October 3, 2008 @ 6:39 pm