Mozilla’s popular Firefox browser’s market share has been gradually diminishing over the past couple of years, and if the latest figures are anything to go by, that downward trend appears to have accelerated alarmingly over the past couple of months.
According to statistics provided by the well respected NetMarketShare, Firefox’s market share hit a five-year low of 15.54% at the end of June 2014, a long way from its peak of 23.75% in 2009.
Here’s a month-by-month breakdown of Firefox’s declining market share since December 2013:
A drop in market share of 2.81% over 6 months might not seem all that significant but, putting it in perspective, that equates to a decrease of around 15% in Firefox’s user-base, which does involve substantial numbers.
A number of factors appear to be contributing to Firefox’s declining market share, not the least of which is the growing popularity of its main competitor, Chrome. Plus Mozilla’s apparent failure to deliver on the promise of a lighter and speedier Firefox. It’s ironic that one of Firefox’s most appealing features, the huge numbers and variety of add-ons, also contributes largely to its greatest criticism.
It’s a lot more difficult to fathom why the downward trend appears to be accelerating of late, I can’t help wondering if Mozilla’s handling of the Brendon Eich fiasco might have exacerbated the situation.
For those not in the know; Brendan Eich is the former Mozilla CEO who was sacked recently after accusations of homophobia. At the time, Mozilla claimed Mr Eich had resigned and was not sacked, but if you believe that then you believe in the tooth fairy. Even if the former CEO did in fact tender a letter of resignation, I’ll almost guarantee that he was “advised” to do so.
The sacking was perceived as grossly unfair in many quarters and created a storm of protest, with many commenters vowing they would never use Firefox again. At the time, I dismissed it as mostly idle talk but perhaps they’ve been good to their word. This all took place in early April, so the timing would certainly suggest so.
Or, maybe Mozilla’s propensity for further minimizing Firefox’s UI (User Interface) with each new version has finally worn thin with users.
Whatever, I doubt Firefox is heading the way of its predecessor Netscape just yet, but these latest figures should definitely be ringing alarm bells in the Mozilla camp. If Firefox is to remain a power among web browsers, Mozilla needs to act, and it needs to act now.
Why do you think Firefox’s popularity might be waning?
A good part of the number is possibly due to courses on the likes of Udemy, where the insistence is that Chrome is used. I won’t install Chrome. Google is OK as a search engine, but I do not need them intruding into everything.
I removed FF from all of my personal computers as a result of the Eich debacle.
The faster they claim to make it, the slower it gets. I do not like what they did with the interface, which is why I didn’t like any other browser.
I am still using it, but the frustration is getting me close to just going with Internet Explorer, unless there is one better.
There is nothing wrong with Internet Explorer Debbie. The old ‘IE isn’t a good browser’ comment is passé and just does not apply these days. The latest IE is secure, fast, and compares very favorably with anything else.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with IE. IE is part of the Windows Operating System and your PC will be unstable if you remove it. I use Firefox for everyday browsing, and IE for updates and online scanners. Chrome, however, wants you to link everything with it and begs for your phone number and personal info. I use Start Page as my search engine, and will never have Chrome or Google anything. In fact, I have programs and add-ons to block the half-dozen Google spy programs that try to track me on every site I visit.
I’ve been using the hostman program to block, any advertizing links on google. I also got adblock plus, and one called “self destructing cookies”.
I have used Firefox for many years, but in 2014 it has been giving me problems and crashing (Win7 and WinXP), pushing me to consider leaving it. It has developed and IE like affinity for malware and adware, and the Yahoo Toolbar is unstable on it. I am seriously considering eliminating it, though I do not really trust the Chrome alternative, and Opera is buggy with banking sites…. I guess I’m not the only one unhappy with my old browser…
The reason that both Chrome and Firefox are losing ground is because the folks that buy computers now have no idea of how to get a better browser. IE will never change and will remain the magnet of destrucion for a PC. If they knew better they would do better!
No idle talk after Mr. Eich was pushed out of Mozilla, it was disgraceful with brute political force staking claim as the thought police. Since that incident, I’ve purposely gone back to Internet Explorer, and for a change of pace Maxthon and Opera. Still have Firefox, and do sometimes still use it, but am working my way away from the browser.
No mention of Mozilla’s Seamonkey suite. It’s a great browser and email client at the same time. If a user is so inclined, there are a number of compatible add-ons available but that’s up to the user (though I love NoScript). The main problem I have with Chrome is that it’s a Google product. Google has some neat stuff but they’re so invasive into everything. I really hate being a marketing toy.
Some people have said about memory leakage etc. I have FF on my Laptop which has 6GB RAM and my desktop which has 1GB RAM. While my laptop has different add-ons etc my desktop doesn’t have any at all!!
There is memory leakage on both computers. It seems to me that the higher the RAM the more the leakage!!
With just this tab open and add-ons disabled FF is using 636,960k
Count me amongst the people who uninstalled Firefox after the Eich thing.
Don’t understand. My Ubuntu is 64 bit but you all say FF is 32 bit and will not work.
Why then does it work fine?
32-bit applications will work fine in 64-bit systems but there’s really no advantage because they are not utilizing the full power/resources of the 64-bit system.
I uninstalled Firefox, after the firing of Brendan Eich, who had been with Mozilla for 15 years. All because of, a few complaints about Eich supporting CA Proposition 8, with a donation, which was made 6 years before. Nothing, was said in all of those 6 years, until he was elected to be the new CEO. I am with many others, I literally hate the Politically Correct crowd and how they operate. I had been using Chrome, because I was getting so frustrated with Firefox and the constant updates, so that your favorite Add-Ons would not work. I also, hated the Firefox would not let you use Java Scripts. Listen, I don’t care to use Java Scripts, but, I do NOT want anyone making my decisions, for me. With Chrome, I can elect to use Java Scripts or not. So for me, getting rid of Firefox was a no-brainer.
Around 2003 when Yahoo voluntarily helped the Communist Chinese government identify, prosecute and imprison dissidents, I stopped using Yahoo as a browser forever. It had some features I really liked, but that was a small sacrifice compared with what the dissidents had to give up. Look where Yahoo is now compared to then.
When the narrow minded, politically-correct bigots that compose the board of directors at Mozilla got rid of Brendan Eich over a Proposition 8 donation I moved over to another browser. Being somewhat of a pragmatist, I haven’t uninstalled Firefox totally yet. I keep it around like IE for those occasions when other browsers hang up. However, I did take it off my task bar. Out-of-sight, out-of-mind! And by the way, no more donations for Mozilla research either.
The Mozilla board of directors probably didn’t even think through implications of institutional response. There had to be thousands of organizations that resented this kind of high handed nonsense. I know of one that has thousands of computers and noticed Fire Fox was instantly removed from over one hundred computers at just one location that I access, and I’m sure that message isn’t lost on the users of those machines, so the ripples just keep moving out.
The Eich decision is a reflection on the competence and vision of the board so it is no surprise that Mozilla is on the decline. That mind set is probably reflected in many other day to day decisions by Mozilla management that don’t make the news which are quietly eroding Mozilla’s future. I’ll shed no tears when Fire Fox is gone.
I am one of the many who deleted Firefox from all my machines 3 months ago BECAUSE of the handling of the CEO. According to different fora I visited at the time, there were many others who were immediately deleting or planned to as soon as they settled on another browser.
I have given all of the above a good go for years and am now back where I was 17 years ago – with Opera.
Well, I am in the minority. I have used Chrome for the past several years and loved it, even switching to Gmail. But the last upgrade of Chrome causes my Gateway laptop to freeze: it wants to take 85-90% of my CPU with 2 tabs open and NO EXTENSIONS running. I have switched to Firefox and ZOHOmail, and I am happy. I would go back to Chrome in a heartbeat, except they really don’t give a damn about my problems…they figure I’m just a drop in the ocean. Watch out Google…you CAN f*** this up…
Hmmm Firefox has been in steady decline for some time but the article and figures point to a sudden and rapid decline over the last few months. What happened in the last few months that could rapidly accelerate the rate at which established users abandon Firefox?
… Australis!
Maybe Mozilla got it catastrophically wrong and and the user base didn’t want a dumbed down, toy shop user interface afterall.