GOOGLE CHROME OVERTAKES FIREFOX AS UK'S #2 BROWSER

Google's Chrome is Britain's second most popular browser, a sign of the internet giant's increasing grip on the UK search market.

Three years after launch, Chrome last month captured 22% of UK users and marginally overtook Mozilla's Firefox browser, according to the web metrics firm Statcounter. Microsoft's Internet Explorer is losing market share to Chrome but remains the most popular browser for UK users with 45% – although it has a head start by being pre-installed on almost all computers sold in Britain. Apple's Safari is UK number four, with a 9% share.

MICROSOFT'S SMARTPHONE SHARE DOWN 35% AFTER WINDOWS PHONE 7 RELEASE

ComScore issued its May report on mobile subscriber market share in the U.S. last week, as usual, Google’s Android OS and Apple’s iOS grew more popular in the month, mostly at RIM’s expense. Perhaps equally as troubling as RIM’s continued slide, however, is Microsoft’s position with Windows Phone. As noted by Winrumors, Microsoft’s share of the U.S. smartphone market has dropped a whopping 35% since it released its next-generation smartphone platform in November of last year. At that time, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile accounted for an estimated 9% of smartphones sold in the U.S. In May, Microsoft’s combined share was just 5.8%.

The lack of carrier attention has left the OS as something of an afterthought thus far. With Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” devices due later this year and Nokia set to launch its first Windows Phone before 2012, Microsoft is well-positioned globally. Here in the U.S. however, the Redmond-based tech giant needs far more carrier support if it hopes to make a dent in an already crowded smartphone market.

APPLE'S iPAD ACCOUNTS FOR 97% OF US TABLET TRAFFIC ONLINE

It's no secret that the iPad commands a serious lead in the battle for tablet mindshare, but comScore's new Device Essentials traffic-tracking service shows just how much that translates into market dominance. According to the web monitoring company, the iPad and its successor account for 89 percent of tablet internet use globally, and 97 percent here in the US. Of course, the slate segment is still young and accounts for only a tiny percentage of total traffic. And, it's worth noting, the iPad has a significant advantage in being the first to hit shelves.

ANDROID TABLET MAKERS DISAPPOINTED WITH SALES, SHIFTING BACK TO CELL PHONES

Cell phone makers that have entered the emerging consumer tablet market over the past year are now backing off according to a report from DigiTimes on Friday. Thus far only Samsung has been able to make a real dent in Apple’s stronghold on this new market, capturing a 10% share with its Galaxy Tab Android-powered tablet.

Samsung’s triumph was due mainly to the Galaxy Tab’s widespread distribution, and other entrants into the market have not been able to capture the same success. While 250,000 XOOM tablets shipped in two months and 500,000 PlayBooks shipped last quarter are respectable figures, it’s hard to call those products a success when Apple has sold 25 million iPads in just 14 months. As a result, companies that planned to attack the tablet market aggressively may now be pulling back some of that investment to focus on another new market: supersized smartphones. Android phones with displays sized between four and five inches have become increasingly popular since the launch of Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G, and it looks like handset makers may be better served to focus on that space while the market figures out whether or not if even wants consumer tablets.

ANDROID AND iOS CONTINUE TO GROW; RIM FALLS AGAIN

On Friday comScore released its latest mobile subscriber market share report, which suggests that both Android and iOS are increasing their U.S. market shares at the cost of RIM’s BlackBerry OS. ComScore surveyed 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers during a three month period ending in April 2011 and found that Android’s U.S. market share jumped 5.2 percentage points to a 34.6% grip of the industry. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS market share grew a marginal 1.3 percentage points to a 26% share. RIM’s BlackBerry OS share fell from 30.4% in January to 25.7%.

Things don't look good for RIM, the once mighty titan. While RIM continues to rely on enterprise integration, most enterprise are making way for the more nimble and cheaper iOS and Android devices.

NEW RESEARCH REVEALS INTERNET AND TELCO TV ARE ERODING CABLE TV MARKET SHARE

According to new data from ABI Research, internet TV and and television services run by telecoms – such as Verizon or AT&T— are slowly eating away at cable TV’s market share. Cable TV subscriptions dropped from 72% in 2009 to 69% in 2010, and cable providers in North America and Western Europe saw the greatest subscriber losses.

Despite the customer losses, the overall pay-TV market continues to grow — there were 11.3 million new pay-TV subscribers in Q1 2011, and that the total number of subscribers is expected to exceed 759 million by the end of this year.

Cable TV is continuing to grow in Latin America, however, and penetration in Brazil is expected to reach 10% in 2011. “The emergency of digital TV in different pay-TV platforms begins to offer more choices to consumers,’ Khin Sandy Lynn, an ABI research analyst, said. “Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) channels and high definition (HDTV) channels are gaining popularity in pay-TV markets. ABI research expects that there will be more than 230 million high-definition TV subscriptions across different platforms at the end of 2011.”

ANDROID OS RISES WHILE BLACKBERRY FALLS

Android’s U.S. market share is continuing to grow at the expense of RIM, Microsoft, and Palm, according to a new report from comScore that took a snapshot of the mobile phone market during the March quarter. The report found that Android powered 34.7% of all U.S. smartphones, up 6% from December 2010. RIM’s BlackBerry OS market share fell 4.5 points to a 27.1% share of the market, while Microsoft’s Windows and Palm’s webOS each saw a 0.9 percentage point decrease. Apple’s iOS market share jumped 0.5 points to a 25.5% share of the market, just behind RIM’s 27.1% grasp. Samsung remained the most popular mobile phone brand with a 24.5% share of the market, followed by LG (20.9%), Motorola (15.8%), RIM (8.4%), and Apple (7.9%). The report also found that 234 million Americans above the age of 13 used mobile devices.

NOKIA SMARTPHONE MARKET SHARE PLUNGES TO 31%

Stephen Elop's first quarterly results as Nokia CEO have just come out, and while the company's still growing, others seem to be speeding ahead of it. Nokia's reporting its converged mobile devices (smartphones, to you and us) reached volumes of 28.3 million during Q4 2010, which is a neat bump from 20.8 million at the same time last year and 26.5 million in the previous quarter. However, in the context of the broader smartphone marketplace, that figure now amounts to only a 31 percent share, according to Nokia's own estimates, which is a major dip relative to its 40 percent slice in Q4 2009 and 38 percent in Q3 2010.

FIREFOX TAKES LEAD OVER INTERNET EXPLORER

Internet Explorer has been seeing some pressure in the form of incremental gains in market share from competing browsers such as Firefox, Safari and Chrome for some time. In September, Internet Explorer’s global market share had degraded below 50% with particular losses being experienced in the European market as demonstrated by a 6% drop compared to the same period in 2009. In December, it looks like Firefox was able to take advantage of IE’s vulnerability to supplant the browser in the European market for the first time.

StatCounter, the free website analytics company, reported that Firefox took the number one spot with 38.11% of the European market compared to IE’s 37.52%. Internet Explorer experienced nearly a 3% drop from September which allowed Firefox to edge up ahead of the previously dominant browser. Interestingly enough, Firefox can thank Google’s Chrome according to Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter’s CEO, who says:

This appears to be happening because Google’s Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share.

When you look at the gains of Chrome in Europe the numbers speak for themselves. As of December, Chrome had 14.58% market share in Europe compared to its previous market share during the same time last year of only 5.06%. Don’t expect Microsoft to put up a white flag anytime soon, though. When you look at North America it is clear that Internet Explorer maintains a dominant lead over other browsers with 48.92% market share compared to Firefox (26.7%) and Chrome (12.82%). If IE’s market share continues to erode in North America, Microsoft’s browser may soon find itself fighting a bloodier browser war on the home front as well.

APPLE'S iTUNES INCREASES DIGITAL MUSIC MARKET SHARE

According to market research firm NPD Group, Apple's iTunes has increased its digital music market share from 63.2% to 66.2% year over year. Amazon, iTunes biggest competitor, has 13.3% of the market. Music label executives give Amazon a more conservative market share of only 6% - 10% with the rest going to Apple and smaller music sites.

Pricing does not appear to affect market share of digital music as much as it does in retail sales. Amazon has tried to undercut Apple's pricing, often having much lower prices than Apple's $9.99 =- $14.99 price on albums. Despite Amazon's efforts Apple's iTunes continues to grow, bumping out WalMart for the number one spot in music sales in 2008. [BGR]

ANDROID TAKES OVER iPHONE IN US SHIPMENTS AND MARKETSHARE

NPD Group states that Android has taking the lead over Apple’s iPhone as the dominant mobile operating system in the U.S. According to third quarter numbers, Android was installed on 44% of smartphones while the iPhone came in second at 23%. Another tech research firm, Canalys, found that during the quarter Apple shipped 5.5 million iPhones giving them an edge over RIM’s shipment of 5.1 million BlackBerry devices. In comparison, Google’s Android OS was shipped on 9.1 million smartphones which now gives Android a commanding lead. [Geek]

MACS TO INCREASE ENTERPRISE MARKET SHARE

The Enterprise Desktop Alliance has just released the results of a survey of IT administrators.  The results show that Apple will make more headway into the corporate environment.  Apple is expected to increase their share from 2009's 3.3% to 5.2% in 2011, a 57% increase.  Most of the increase will be in environments that already support Macs.

Overall Macs are expected to see an increase of 23% in 2011.  That is not a bad number considering overall computer growth is softening from 6.1% in 2010 to 2.9% in 2011. [Geek]