Posted by Garion on 2012-04-11 18:13:19

That would be a real shame. All those people that are still foolishly using IE get your self on Firefox. Every user helpa.

Posted by blader4411 on 2012-04-11 18:19:16

Meh, Chrome is better.

Posted by nin on 2012-04-11 18:45:09

Bad troll blader4411, bad troll.

Chrome better than Firefox is like some anonimous minmax Pact better than Chuck at it's peack.

Posted by Christer on 2012-04-11 18:46:31

You're making it sound like Google is simply giving money to Mozilla. This isn't exactly what is going on here.

Google is primarily an ad company. They sell ad space to other companies, through their search and through ad-sense.

The money that Google is paying Mozilla is for being the default search engine of the browser. The end result of this is that more people use their search engine, and more people see and click the ads they display.

I haven't studied the numbers, but pure market share doesn't tell you the whole story. You must also look at the fact that there may be more people accessing the web as well. Firefox could well get more users overall, but still lose market share. It's the raw numbers that matter to Google, because they effectively get paid per view and per click of the ads they show.

Is Google negotiating the cost of being the default search engine in Firefox? No doubt. Are they still going to keep doing it? Most likely - as long as there are enough people using Firefox they still make money from the deal. It doesn't make sense for Google to hurt their primary business (ads) in order to get people to move to Chrome. If firefox disappeared, some people would rather go to IE or Safari instead of Chrome, so Google would lose people looking at their ads.

I don't see why Google would end the deal they have with Mozilla. Doesn't make sense.

Posted by Garion on 2012-04-11 18:53:12

Christer FTW!

Posted by the_Sage on 2012-04-11 19:35:17

I never thought I'd say this but I'm with Blader on this one.

Posted by ex-convict on 2012-04-11 21:02:28

Nice report Christer.

And yeah, I love Mozilla

Posted by Russo on 2012-04-11 22:08:01

@Christer

I would not dispute anything you have said, and it would make sense as you have put it :-)

I know alot of folks on here use Firefox as I used to in the past (prior to replacing my PC) and there are some great scripts to help users on FUMBBL so I knew it would be of interest to those with a more technical approach to the site than me.

Posted by pingus on 2012-04-12 08:22:38

Christer for the rescue!

Posted by Sp00keh on 2012-04-12 10:57:20

yea, google only pay for them being default search engine so they get the advert views

google aren't primarily a search company, they're an advertising company

google didn't build chrome in order to get browser market share, they made it to make internet use faster. because faster = more page views = more advertising money

google have made their own image file format (like jpg, but faster) and their own modifications to web code (like IP/TCP, but faster)

they made their search results appear instantly as you type. because, faster = more adverts

Posted by Sp00keh on 2012-04-12 10:59:16

also google made driverless cars, presumably because if you don't have to do the driving, you could be surfing the internet giving them page views instead

they made android not because they want to sell phones, but so they can be the default search engine in your pocket

Posted by pythrr on 2012-04-12 13:37:13

i have a mac

what are you all talking aboot?

Posted by maysrill on 2012-04-12 13:39:02

If Google were to manage to kill Firefox, some would go to Chrome (which they'd be fine with), but some would also go to IE (which they'd be less fine with).

For them the issue isn't so much browser market share, but search engine market share.

If iPhones had used google as the default, Android probably would not exist now.

Posted by Christer on 2012-04-12 16:05:21

Umm.. The default search engine on iPhone (or any iOS device) is Google.