Aliso Viejo, CA – Net Applications’ new and more accurate method of counting browser use reveals that Maxthon 2.0 has pulled ahead of Firefox 2.0 and is close behind Opera 9.x.
Net Applications, the most quoted of research firms tracking browser use, last month changed the weigh it gives to data it obtains from different countries to more accurately reflect the populations sizes that data represents. In China, where Maxthon originated, the browser has about 22 percent of the market share, behind only Microsoft Internet Explorer and ahead of Firefox and all other browsers.
The change in weighing statistics by country led to Maxthon gaining a visible identity in Net Applications reporting. Previously Net Applications, as had most research companies, lumped Maxthon in with I.E. because the two browsers use the same rendering engine, Trident, to display Web pages.
“Not only did this way of counting browsers not give accurate figures for Maxthon and for Internet Explorer, it had the effect of saying Maxthon didn’t even exist,” said Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon International.
Net Applications does not yet recognize Maxthon as a totally separate browser from Internet Explorer.
To find Maxthon, one must go to a specialized table, “Browser Version Market Share” (http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2). There Maxthon is identified as the “Maxthon Edition” of Internet Explorer versions 6.0, 7.0, and 8.0.
“This is not entirely fair or accurate,” Chen said. “Chrome and Safari both use the same rendering engine, Webkit, and yet Net Applications does not list Chrome as the “Chrome Edition of Safari,” or list Safari as the “Safari Edition of Chrome,” Chen said.
“Still, we are happy to finally be recognized in a way that gives us and others useful information,” he said. “And in a few months we’ll be releasing Max-3, which uses both Trident and Webkit. That should make it more difficult for researchers to count Max as some form of another browser.”
The Browser Versions table at Net Applications gives the “Maxthon Edition” of Internet Explorer 6.0 a market share of 1.02 percent. It attributes 0.32 percent of the market to the “Maxthon Edition” of I.E. 7, and 0.21 percent to Maxthon as an edition of Internet Explorer 8.0.
When the shares of the three “Maxthon Editions” are added up, it gives Maxthon a 1.55 percent share of the international browser market. Firefox 2.0 has 1.37 percent, and Opera 9.x has 1.76 percent. It must be noted however, that Firefox 2.0 is not the latest version of that browser. Firefox 3.0 and 3.5 have a combined share of 21.36 percent.
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