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Apple was highly criticized in March for duping Windows users to install Safari Web Browser by including it as an update in Apple’s Software Updater. If you had any Apple Software, it would automatically download Safari 3.1 as an update, even if you didn’t install Safari on your Windows machine. As a result, large number of iTunes users downloaded Safari 3.1 unintentionally.
I was left wondering, whether users would actually try Safari as their web browser in Windows. It turns out that this strategy worked for Apple, and Safari’s browser share has tripled in a month! Here’s a graph from Net Applications:
Safari 3.1 which had 0.07% market share in March 2008, jumped to 0.23% in May. This jump is relatively small compared to Internet Explorer or Firefox, but still Apple managed to triple the market share in a month, which is quite astonishing. Should Apple be appreciated or criticized? Tell us through comments.
[via: CyberNet]
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wrote, on May 3rd, 2008
Hmm, that’s interesting. Appreciated? No way. They’re forcing unwary people to download the browser. Are people forced to download Firefox? I don’t think so.
wrote, on May 3rd, 2008
I was never a fan of Apple’s ethics and promotion tactics. I hate Apple for that matter. I think this is a very bad act. I uninstalled Safari and would never use it again bcuz of this.
That said, I should confess that I am still a fan of some of the Apple products out there. And, I may become a guilty owner of an Apple product in the coming months.
wrote, on May 3rd, 2008
One should actually look at the exact numbers rather than percentages. In this case, the base number being small, tripling is no big deal.
wrote, on May 5th, 2008
Apple should be criticized for unknowing making it a feature and getting it downloaded on to everyones PC’s. And it should be appreciated for the good marketing skills.
wrote, on May 5th, 2008
I don’t necessarily criticize Apple for doing this. I mean the users still choose to use the browser or not. If not then, they simply uninstall it. But they still get to try it out if they haven’t already done so.
wrote, on May 5th, 2008
It did bother me that they tricked me into downloading Safari. They were very smart though. I don’t use Safari, because I don’t care for it, but I haven’t uninstalled it.
wrote, on May 6th, 2008
Their ambush marketing ploy has done very well. Growing your market share from 0.07% to 0.23% equates to huge growth in a user base running into many 100’s of millions!
wrote, on May 6th, 2008
I have tried Safari before and didn’t see anything useful so I deleted it. I have a bigger dislike for Apple and its products than I ever do for Microsoft so when I had to do yet another full update on itunes and found it had installed this **** I deleted the whole lot. If I want Apple **** on my computer then I will install it not have them install by deception. I got rid of Adobe for the same reason in that they kept trying to install software that I didn’t want without my permission. Try Quicktime alternative.
There must be some law against this and Apple must break more of them than any other company. With itunes I hated seeing that it kept running programs on the internet without my permission and even when stopped they would restart. It just gives me the impression that this company is far more intrusive than Microsoft has ever dared to be.
I hope this comes back and bites Apple on the ***. There are many good programs on the internet that do not as try and take over your computer and not all of you use an ipod so get rid the Apple **** and get your computer back working for you. There are also many programs that run with an ipod that are far better than itunes so don’t feel trapped into using software that does what it wants on your computer.