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Thursday 08 December 2011

There May Be Trouble Ahead (For Firefox) [ 08-12-2011 19:52 ]

Author: Serge Novikov Source: Telegraph Translation by: Paul Smith

The Telegraph today is running an interesting piece of the current state of the browser market, specifically the competition between the top three players; Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. The main news here is of course that Chrome has allegedly overtaken Firefox to become the world's second most popular browser. I say 'allegedly' because different metrics are giving different results at the moment, but to be fair this is the first time any have put Chrome ahead of Firefox at all.

Chrome is apparently responsible for 25.7% of usage at the moment, whilst Firefox has a 25.2% share. That may not seem like much of a difference, certainly one may wonder how 0.5% can be causing such a fuss. However, that 0.5% represents a major shift in the fortunes of Firefox and the company behind it, Mozilla.

Back in late 2009 Firefox was riding a wave of popularity with a 32% share of the market. Times were good and it looked like Mozilla's open source ideals were catching on and successfully disrupting the market leader's hold. Microsoft is still the market leader today with their Internet Explorer browser holding a 40.6% share of the market. However, it isn't Mozilla challenging Microsoft's dominance anymore, it's Google. Mozilla's Firefox has been in steady decline for a while now, perhaps not dramatically so, but nevertheless its popularity has been waning as Google's Chrome browser has surged forward.

None of this may seem particularly odd, after all Internet Explorer is widely believed to only hold the number one spot because of a lack of knowledge on the part of many of its users or through forced used policies i.e. in businesses where its use is mandated. One would expect its usage to decline as people learn more about other browsers or businesses embrace other browsers. So too one might expect Firefox to wane in the face of competition, but looking more closely the situation is perhaps more serious for Firefox and Mozilla than it would appear at first glance.

You see a large part of Mozilla's revenues come from none other than Google. This is because Google pays Mozilla to redirect users to its search engine through the Firefox broswer. That's great for Mozilla because they get funding and great for Google because they get a lot of users coming to their search engine, but maybe Google would just rather have those people using its own broswer? Why continue to fund a rival when they can get the same benefit through Chrome?

It's a scary thought for Mozilla, but one that might be overblown. As long as Firefox remains even half popular, which it shows every sign of doing for the foreseeable future at least, Google will almost certainly want to keep its users coming to Google for all their search needs. That means continued funding for Mozilla. Where things really could fall down though is in the mobile space.

With smartphones in particular being seen as a major focus in web activity, especially in the next few years as developing markets embrace smartphones more widely, Firefox is poorly placed to take advantage of this. Firefox has been geared towards the dekstop for the most part, whereas both Google and Microsoft have their own mobile platforms with experience in working with smartphones. It could be that the smartphone is the arena in which Firefox is squeezed out.

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BlackBerry Milan BB OS 10 Handset Image Leaked [ 08-12-2011 19:44 ]

Author: Ivanov Konstantin Source: CrackBerry Translation by: Paul Smith

Here we have what is said to be the BlackBerry Milan, part of RIM's BlackBerry OS 10 line up. There isn't any information to accompany the image, but even so one can still make some deductions based upon the image alone. For example, we can see RIM is sticking to its roots and continuing with the physical keyboard approach, although the device does also appear to have a touchscreen. The screen itself is pretty big, essentially taking up most of the handset and with some clues from the PlayBook OS some are suggesting that navigation on this device might be gesture based.

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Nokia Looking To Ditch Vertu [ 08-12-2011 12:44 ]

Author: Ivanov Konstantin Source: Financial Times Translation by: Paul Smith

Nokia's dalliance with the super rich appears to be coming to an end with reports surfacing that they are looking to ditch their Vertu line. Vertu produces a range of luxurious handsets for those rich enough to be able to afford the eye watering price tags that adorn the handsets. The Financial Times cites someone close to the matter, without bogging us down with any useless information like names, and says that Goldman Sachs is overseeing the affair.

There are apparently already some private equity firms showing interest in purchasing Vertu, but there is also the possibility that a luxury goods manufacturer may decide to snap it up too. Neither Nokia or Goldman Sachs have offered any comment on the apparent sale, but it is said to be consistent with Nokia's current restructuring plans.

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Video: Interview With Paul Hamnett, Head Of Sony Ericsson NA [ 08-12-2011 12:31 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: BGR Translation by: Paul Smith

Boy Genius Report sat down with Paul Hamnett, the head of Sony Ericsson's efforts in North America, for a chat about how the company is doing and what direction it is headed in with the news that Sony is to take complete control of the venture. You can check out the interview below: