Do you remember the science lessons at school when we were told to learn all the Mendeleev periodic table? For many, it was one of those school time nightmares you are happy to forget after graduation. Especially if you are not particularly interested in chemistry. Now it seems that one chemical element, more than two hundred years after its discovery, comes into spotlight again, this time on the internet industry stage. This chemical element reappears as the name of a web browser which is gaining more and more attention in the internet world. The riddle is not hard to solve: it is Google’s Chrome. As the internet rumor goes, the browser’s name is no coincidence. Invented as a challenge to its competition, it can probably be connected to one abandoned multimedia technology project of Microsoft. Indeed, the entry of Google Chrome has sparked yet another war between the internet giants.
After two years of its market presence, continually improved and updated Google Chrome managed to win popularity at the expense of such powerful competitors as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. As the saying goes, when two people quarrel, a third rejoices: while the two leaders are fighting the final battle for the first place in web browsers rankings, Google Chrome is busily gathering new users. Last month (on 7th December), Google Chrome announced to have won 120 million users, which means that the browser attracted as many as 50 million new users since May 2010.
But let’s take a closer look at Central and Eastern Europe to find out about Chrome’s position in the region. This relatively new browser is gaining a dynamically increasing market share in some of the CEE countries. What is even more, it has what it takes to become a mainstream competitor for the two aforementioned giants in the future: Google Chrome is currently the number three web browser in most of the CEE region. The Chrome’s success can be attributed to the browser’s main features. According to internet experts, there are several reasons why Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox should come to terms with the fact that Google Chrome is getting stronger and it has matured to a third most popular browser in the CEE region. First of all, Chrome is very fast. Upon its launch, it was recognised as a much faster tool than other most widely used browsers. Secondly, it has a modern minimalistic interface, designed with emphasis on efficiency and simplicity. Unlike other browsers containing an address bar and a search box, Chrome users can surf the internet directly from the address bar. What is particularly important, the browser has a built-in protection against malware with automatic update feature, so it provides users with more safety on the web.
According to the statistics published on the gemiusRanking website, the growing popularity of Google Chrome is most clearly visible in three countries. This group comprises two Baltic markets: Latvia, enjoying the highest share of page views generated by Google Chrome among all CEE countries (16%), and Lithuania (nearly 13% of page views), as well as Slovakia (more than 14% page views). On the other hand, in such countries as Poland and the Czech Republic, where the position of Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer is strong, or Russia and Ukraine, where Opera is fighting for the leadership in the web browsers ranking, Google Chrome achieved only around 7-8% of all page views.
Chart 1. Rate of page views generated by Google Chrome in chosen CEE countries; source: gemiusRankings, September 2008 – November 2010
Interestingly, it took users quite some time to switch to the new browser. After the first year of its market presence, Chrome achieved only around 3% of page views on most of the CEE markets, attracting more advanced users first; casual users remained dubious. Probably the reasons for the lack of a “big shift” from other browsers to Chrome may be the fact that Chrome is not widely adopted in workplaces. It may well be the habits of internet users who are not convinced they want to swap it. However, according to the statistics, each new version of the browser is more popular than the previous one. Hence further growth in its market share can be expected. The success of Google Chrome is an enviable achievement and the current situation evokes an interesting question: will Google Chrome continue to rise in the CEE region and finally overtake its giant competitors, or will it reach stagnation at one point? Soon we will see what the future holds.
