Computerworld is reporting today that the research firm Gartner is predicting by the end of this year Google’s Chrome browser will overtake Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) in one of the last strongholds of IE’s market share, enterprise users.
In Computerworld’s Gregg Keizer’s interview with Gartner analyst Michael Silver, it is estimated that:
“by year’s end, Google will be the No. 1 primary browser in corporations, edging IE by a few percentage points. Next year, Chrome’s enterprise usage will surge from 43% to 65%, while IE’s will plummet from 47% to 28%.”
Silver explains the reasons for this dramatic prediction is:
“Enterprises had to stick on IE8 because Microsoft supported only one version of IE on a system… they couldn’t get IE11, which forced them into putting another modern browser on devices.”
Keizer notes that Microsoft will be launching its own modern browser, Microsoft Edge, as an answer to competition in browsers and IE’s diminishing market share.
As WinBeta reported, Microsoft Edge is a new lightweight modern browser that has so far scored better on performance benchmark test than IE11, Chrome, and Firefox, and Edge will also use Chrome and Firefox extensions. However, according to the Gartner’s outlook, this may not be enough for Microsoft Edge to compete with Chrome for enterprise users.
Silver says that “part of Microsoft’s strategy is to make Edge compatible enough [with Chrome], and get businesses to use Edge instead of Chrome, [but] Microsoft is already a little bit late.”
Keizer explains Silver’s comment by noting that business won’t be able to leave IE11 after organizations migrate to Windows 10 and that Edge won’t be present on Enterprise device that are under Microsoft’s “long-term servicing branch” which locks down devices in an more static update cycle that isn’t in sync with the automatic update model of Edge.
While technically speaking from an engineering standpoint Microsoft Edge might be Redmond’s winning answer to modern browsers, this report highlights it could be a complicated and uphill battle for Microsoft’s newest browser to win over the enterprise market, historically their safest area of competition.
