In the second full month of availability for the new Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9, clear trends are starting to emerge. Firefox users are upgrading; Internet Explorer users are not. And Internet Explorer’s slide is continuing unabated.
Microsoft’s browser is down 0.84 points to 54.27 percent. Firefox is up a fraction, gaining 0.08 points to 21.71 percent. Chrome saw gains of 0.58 points to 12.52 percent. Safari too is up a little with a 7.28 percent market share, up 0.13 points. Opera dropped 0.11 points to 2.03 percent.
If web browser statistics are any indication, the iPad will be leading the tablet race for a long time to come. According to the latest usage share numbers from Net Applications, the iPad now accounts for 0.92% of the browser market.
That might not sound like a lot until you consider that its nearest tablet competitor, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, ekes out only 0.018%. In the words of Net Applications, the usage share for the iPad is 53 times that of its closest competitor. That’s a big lead.
We decided to take a look at the browser usage stats from the iPad from April 2010 to May 2011. This data proved interesting in not only assessing the growth trajectory of the device, but stacking up where the iPad stood (as compared to its competitors) even 13 months ago.
Looking at this data, it’s clear that even in April 2010, the iPad had more of a usage share than the Galaxy Tab does today. In fact, at that time, when the iPad was barely one month old, it had almost as much usage share as the Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry PlayBook combined.
Meanwhile, the growth curve, in terms of browser usage, for the iPad has continued to grow. The figures from May 2011 are more than double those of November 2010 and usage continues to climb by about 10% each month.
It’s hard to read anything from this data other than what we already know: The iPad is a huge success; its competitors just aren’t selling as well. Still, seeing the usage statistics leads us to the same conclusion as Net Applications: Where are the iPad competitors?
I’ll admit I haven’t been on Quora as much recently, in large part due to being unceremoniously blocked by the company for subscribing to an excessive amount of RSS feeds (but that’s another story). However, today, I stumbled across a great Quora thread started by tech insider Robert Scoble. The question: “Which tech startups currently (June 2011) need and deserve angel funding?”
Of course, the resulting list is a lot of self-serving posts from startups hoping to cash in on Scoble’s influence, but frankly, I don’t care. I’m obsessed with this thread and the startups that keep appearing there, minute by minute. It’s startup Disneyland! And if you’re an early adopter itching to try new services, you should check it out, too.
Sponsor
According to Scoble’s post, he’s having lunch with Ashton Kutcher on June 17. And to stoke the fires of the eager founders, he writes:
“Last year when I had lunch with him he invested in Flipboard, which went onto be Apple’s favorite iPad app of the year. Got something you want to get in front of him? This is your shot. Stealth startups preferred.”
Well, that’s one way to unveil the stealthy startups in hiding!
At present, the answer summary includes the following:
But this summary is incomplete. There are now 42 answers on this post and counting. I want to try them all! And if you’re also dying to test out (or at least sign up for) some new services, stealthy and otherwise, this is one thread you should follow. Be warned, though: Quora is often labelled a “time sucking” service, and this thread is a prime example as to why. Be sure to have a few minutes to spare before clicking through!
In a shocking report, a study executed by the Bank of America (BofA) indicates that some 96% of Americans under the age of 50 use Facebook.
A total of 418 participants were included in the polling. Such a limited sample size will surely bolster calls that the survey was statistically unreliable, but the persons questioned were supposed to “roughly resemble” US demographics as a whole.
Of course, Facebook has a rule that no one under the age of 13 can use its service, so it could be assumed that either BofA only interviewed persons over the age of 13, or that the company adapted its data to weed out any youngsters.
On the other side of the coin, there are millions upon millions of underage Facebook users, according to ConsumerReports, opening the door to the possibility that BofA’s data needed no correction.
That aside, what the study reveals is far more important than the hot statistic that it produced: Facebook is racing towards market saturation in the United States. If you were looking for a simple way to show the difference between Facebook and its smaller (albeit quite different) rival Twitter, this is it.
Other interesting elements of the report include the fact that for 82% of those polled, ‘privacy protection’ was their biggest source of concern with using Facebook:
Also, over half of those asked are seeing their Facebook usage rise, years into the life of the product:
Finally, more than half of those in the study check their profile at least once a day:
According to Quantcast, Facebook reaches nearly 140 million people in the United States every month. Even more, according to other sources, more than 40% of US citizens in late 2010 had Facebook accounts. That number could only have risen since then.
With 96% market penetration for the listed demographic, Facebook is now perhaps the single most complete way to reach, and even micro-target, non-seniors in the United States. As corporations pick up on the fact, whether advertising rates on Facebook spike remains to be seen, but it does seem likely.Top Image Credit, BusinessInsider
Amazon quietly launched an extension to its software download store, adding a range of just over 250 software and game titles for Mac OS X. While Amazon has some major titles that haven’t yet made it into the Mac App Store, its service doesn’t offer all the same conveniences as Apple’s.
Among the 51 games and 201 other software titles available at the time of publication, users can find top titles like Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, Photoshop Elements, Toast, Dragon Age Origins, and The Sims 3, none of which are available via the Mac App Store. In fact, much of the productivity and educational software isn’t in the Mac App Store, while a quick look through the games shows many of the top titles, like Call of Duty, Borderlands, and Civilization, are.
The discrepancy is due to Apple’s requirements for App Store distribution, which includes adhering to strict standards for API use and code signing. Amazon’s downloads store simply requires developers to integrate with Amazon’s payment system and generate license keys when titles are downloaded.
The upside to Apple's approach is that all the licensing is handled via the iTunes infrastructure, connected to a user's Apple ID. Purchased apps are automatically downloaded and installed to a user's computer, ready to use. Updates are also handled directly via the Mac App Store.
Amazon’s store, in contrast, simply downloads a standard software installer; it’s up to users to install the software and enter license codes. The main benefit to end users is that it uses Amazon’s payment system and provides a single source to find and buy the software available instead of searching and using vendors own online purchasing systems. Amazon also stores a copy of any purchases on Amazon Cloud, so you can re-download if needed. Unlike the Mac App Store, however, each software vendor makes its own rules about how many computers on which software can be installed and how many times it can be reinstalled without vendor intervention.
Aside from the operational differences, it’s also worth noting that Amazon calls its service “Mac Downloads Store,” perhaps to avoid additional conflict with Apple over the term “App Store.” Apple is currently suing Amazon for trademark infringement over its Android Appstore. Amazon has argued the term “app store” is too generic, while Apple maintains that it isn’t.
I’ll admit I haven’t been on 
