Does Chrome Matter?

Does Google’s new Chrome browser matter? Lehman Brothers analyst Douglas Anmuth thinks so, says Erick Schonfeld, Seeking Alpha commentator. Anmuth points out that Firefox having gained approximately 20 percent market share over the past four years. He thinks Google Chrome could be adopted faster, and gain 15 percent to 20 percent share within two years.

A lot of the attention so far has been on the possibility of Chrome being a Windows killer, by supercharging Web browsing and Web apps so you really won’t need desktop applications. Anmuth believes mobility might be the bigger play, if, as he expects, Chrome will be bundled directly on Android mobile devices. 

The other angle: Google Gears, used to synchronize online documents and data for offline use, might be quite valuable for mobile applications that must operate in a fluid access environment. 

And Google Gears can be very useful for Web apps on mobile devices, where network connections can be spotty.

Global IP Traffic Up 53%

International Internet traffic grew 53 percent between mid-2007 and mid-2008, down from 61 percent the preceding year, say researchers at TeleGeography.

Two Percent Chrome Usage Today?

Web analytics startup GetClicky says that almost two percent of all Internet traffic to the 45,000 websites they monitor is coming from Google Chrome today, according to TechCrunch. 

TechCrunch visitors seem to like Firefox quite alot. In fact, TechCrunch users probably are not like most Internet users. But 56 percent of TechCrunch readers from the last 30 days use Firefox, compared to 31 percent for Internet Explorer and 10 percent for Safari. 

Mobile Gamers: 31 to 70 Million

Mobile gamers who have downloaded a paid-for game numbe about 31 million, according to eMarketer. Mobile gamers who have either done that or played a game preloaded on their mobile device might number as many as 70 million, according to Limbo and GFK/NOP Research.

In June 2008, the dotMobi consortium and AKQA published a study on US and UK mobile Internet activities, which reported 22% of respondents engaged in mobile game play.

At the higher level of use, perhaps 22 percent to 27 percent of mobile phone users play games of any sort. In June 2008, the dotMobi consortium and AKQA conducted a study that suggests 22 percent of respondents play mobile games.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that 27 percent of U.S. mobile device users had played mobile games on their devices.

Google Chrome:Tabs on Steroids

If the download times are any indication, the 7-Mbyte Google Chrome browser is getting lots of downloads today. The download is slow. First reaction: the tabbed browsing feature, which is the reason many of us seem to prefer Mozilla's Firefox, is really noticeable. Google provides much-more extensive browsing history.

I've only used it briefly today, so although I can't assess perceived browser speed on an extended basis, which is supposed to be one of the advantages, it does seem to be executing faster.

I suspect the ability to isolate a single tab malfunction from paralyzing the whole browser might be useful. I haven't had a crash yet while using Web pages.

Rogers iPhone Usage Data: 91% Use Less than 100 Mbytes

First month data on iPhone user data consumption show that 1.2 percent of iPhone customers used more than 1 GByte of data, 95 percent used less than 500 MBytes, and 91.2% used less than 100 MBytes, says Elizabeth Hamilton, Rogers Wireless director, and reported by by Sean Cooper, of engadget mobile.

Usage patterns might change with time. They typically do. But so far, at least, there doesn't seem to be a mismatch between usage caps and end user behavior. Over time, that likely will get to be a bigger problem, as consumption tends to rise with time and experience.

Roughly the same thing can be said of wired network broadband usage. Over time, usage will drift higher as more users start to routinely consume video.

Google Chrome has Launched

Google's new "Chrome" browser is available for download now.