Although still the market leader in the U.S. browser
market, Netscape Communications Corp.
dropped nine points in the first half of 1998, while rival Microsoft added 5 points and AOL
maintained its share, according to report released today by International Data Corp. (IDC).
“The results of this third IDC survey tracking Web browser market share
show a dramatic shift toward
Microsoft Internet Explorer by midyear 1998,” said Joan-Carol Brigham, a
research manager in IDC’s
Internet and eCommerce Strategies research program. “It appears that
Microsofts current battle with the U.S. government and Netscape’s software
giveaway have had little effect in keeping Netscapes market share from
eroding.”
According to the study, “U.S. WWW Browser Market Share and Forecast
Tracking, Midyear 1998,” Microsoft continued its upswing in each user
segment, but still faces its biggest hurdle in the medium-sized and large
business segments. AOL also reported steady progress in
the small business arena, picking up where Netscape is behind. The study
found that six months ago Netscape led and continually increased among
small business users.
However, as of June 1998, Netscape began a downward spiral, losing close to
a 10 percent share
with small businesses. The study further noted that medium-sized and large
business segment usage of Navigator has nose dived almost 9 percent over
the past six months.
“Microsoft’s weakness remains in the medium-sized and large business
segments where it has made minimal gains,” said Brigham. “This is clearly a
Netscape opportunity.”
In third place, IDC found that AOL held steady its share in the home user
segment, while gaining with small business users. The launch of its 4.0
product, which integrates Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, could spell a
number of new users. IDC said at the time of the research, quite a few AOL
users had already upgraded to the beta 4.0 version.
