Browser war 2.0

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: A new browser war is brewing and is promising fireworks. The new browsers like Opera, Firefox, Netscape, Safari and Mozilla are clearly making their own place. Microsoft has upped its ante too and is soon releasing a new version of its Internet explorer. Beta version is already out. Claims and counter-claims of which is the more secure browser are also doing rounds.

Though the new kids on the block are surely making their presence felt, Microsoft’s dominance is clearly far from over. A third party web research firm, Netapplications pegs Microsoft’s market share at 87.2% at the end of 2005, though down from 90% at 2004-end. Other players like Firefox, Safari and Netscape don’t even come close.

Even IE’s biggest competitor, Firefox has a market share below 10%.

The reasons are not hard to find. With 97% of world’s PCs equipped with Microsoft Windows, IE has an obvious advantage. Why is then excitement building in a market where products come free?

Clearly, nobody can expect to make money by charging users—IE comes bundled with most PCs and other browsers like Firefox can be downloaded free. “In fact, Firefox at one time had a donate button put on its website,” reminscises Frost & Sullivan’s director for ICT practice Alok Shende. Oracle and IBM withdrew, finding the business non-lucrative.

Scramble for innovative revenue models, however continues. Most of the answers come from sales support, customisation and alliances with search engines like Google.

“Earlier we used to incorporate an ad or two in the browser but we discontinued it as it was not very popular with users. Then, we tied up with Google to incorporate their search bar in our browser. Till date, clicks from the Google search box is our largest and only revenue earner in the desktop browser space,” Opera’s CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner.

He blames the market came to a standstill because of Microsoft’s practice of bundling of IE with Windows operating system.

A survey by Georgia Institute of Technology suggests that 71% of users did not change browsers within the past one year.  The majority of users ‘never’ switch browsers, so, it is not surprising to see the emergence of IE as the market leader, the survey adds.