Google's new browser has zoomed past 1% market share in just ten hours after its release yesterday at 3:02 p.m. EDT and reached almost 1.5% earlier today. Although it is too early to tell which competing browser makers were hit by Google’s new software, the initial numbers numbers indicate that Chrome is off to a good start.
According to Net Applications, Chrome crossed 0.5% just two hours after its release. At midnight (EDT), Chrome surpassed 1% market share. The browser hit 1.48% share of the browsing market at 4 a.m., eventually stabilizing at about 1% over the course of the following hours. According to the data published by the market research firm, Chrome held 1.06% at the time of this writing.
The spike does not come unexpected, especially if we consider the enormous reporting on Google Chrome within the past two days. Google’s own news service indicates that more than 3000 articles covering Chrome were published on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But 1% of the worldwide browser market is huge. It is difficult to estimate how often Chrome may have been downloaded, but considering the fact that there are currently about 1.46 billion Internet users, it would take at least 14 million downloads to keep the 1% mark at a stable level – at least if the Net Applications data is somewhat comparable to the data provided by Internet World Stats.
Even if Chrome isn’t a perfect browser yet, Google certainly has managed to deliver an impressive launch.