THE PHILIPPINES, SEPTEMBER 26, 2011: Google Chrome has yet to turn three years old, but it already enjoys a comfortable 51.7% Philippine market share – a significant lead over the 34.66% share held by its next competitor, Mozilla Firefox, reports the Inquirer.
Officially released on December 2008, Google Chrome has since added applications and its own one-stop web-based application store, allowing users to customize not only their browsers but also the way they surf and use the internet. Users mainly appreciated Chrome’s cleaner, more streamlined look and its easy-to-use interface. Popular games, like the smash hit Angry Birds, are also available locally through a web address or via Chrome’s web store, which adds to the browser’s appeal to fans.
A unique feature of Chrome is an option to create a desktop, Quick Launch, or Start Menu shortcut for a web application which, when accessed through the shortcut, eliminates all buttons, menus, and toolbars from the Chrome window. This makes the browser appear more like a local program rather than a web application or page.
Google Chrome is also relatively faster in application performance and processing than its rivals, packing features such as dynamic code generation, hidden class transitions, and precise garbage collection.
While Internet Explorer, Microsoft’s browser, still leads in worldwide usage, it only managed to place third in the Philippine market with a 10% share. Commonly known as IE among the tech savvy and the online community, the browser is criticized mainly for its poor security features and cluttered tabs and menus. The remaining 4% is shared by Opera, Safari, and mobile browsers.
Almost immediately after its release, Google Chrome opened most of its source code to third-party developers, including its V8 JavaScript Engine, which allowed other browsers to use the technology. The move also helped port the Chrome to other operating systems such as, specifically Mac OS X and Linux.
