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Web Browsers and Mobile Devices - Trends

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There are technologists which believe that for many users and business professionals the web browser will become a primary platform for application software. Computer Education Techniques, Inc. staff and technology partners will be evaluating that assumption.

Web browsers are strategic software:

  • In relation to its role as a front end connection to the Internet and cloud computing.
  • As a line of defense in a security subsystem.
  • In its utilization of protocols for presentation of content.
  • For accessing and transferring data.
  • As an extensible component to an organization's existing information technology infrastructure.
  • As a development platform.

Web browsers do not have an identical featureset; information, content, and data will not be displayed uniformly. However, in a competitive market place over the longer term the trend is convergence and interoperable use. The focus of information technology innovation has been shifting from hardware to web-based apps. Adoption of wireless network device browsing, in conjunction with the use of Wi-Fi-enabled mobile devices in public hotspot locations, continues to grow at a rapid pace. Industry studies indicate that there are now over one trillion Internet-connected devices in public hotspot locations.

The gray shaded cells indicates leading OSS: open source software.


Web Browsers

Workstation, Agents, and Thin Clients

Microsoft Open Source Apple
Edge Mozilla Firefox Safari
  Google Chrome  
  HTML5  
 

Other Web Browsers

Amazon Silk Brave Epic
Flock Maxthon Opera
Tor Torch Vivaldi

Microsoft Corporation's Internet Explorer had been the leading web browser. Apple Corporation's Safari web browser is an important component in the presentation and web app system control with the Apple computer, iPhones, and iPad apps. Apple announced at WWDC 2021 that it is bringing Safari web browser extensions to its mobile devices. With iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, iPhone and iPad will have access to the same web extensions available in Safari for Mac. Open source Mozilla Firefox popularity to a significant degree contributed to Internet Explorer's decline from a 90% market share. Google Corporation was instrumental in the increased acceptance of Firefox; it provided both funding and invitations for free downloads from its Google homepage. The Google Chrome web browser is available on all major platforms. Its also intuitively designed for the iPhone and iPad and is among the best at navigation on both devices. Chrome web browser market share growth is being driven by open web app development and the open source Android operating system. Most major browsers currently use Google as their default search provider. Mozilla continues to utilize the search engine in Firefox. Opera Software entered into an agreement with Google. The Opera browser uses Google search as its default. The deal contained benefits for both Google and Opera as they extended their business relationship. Compared to Google’s mobile Chrome browser, the Opera Mini, due to its suitability with the operation and presentation requirements for smartphones and mobile devices, can be installed on significantly more devices than any other competing browser. Microsoft has phased out its Internet Explorer web browser; the replacement is the Edge web browser. The rebranding was part of its MS Windows 10 operating system software overhaul. As of June 15, 2022, the current version of Internet Explorer was no longer supported on consumer versions of Windows 10. As of April 2021, Explorer had less than 2 percent of the global browser market for desktop computers. The future of Internet Explorer on Windows operating system is in Microsoft Edge. Microsoft will continue to offer an “IE mode” within its Edge browser through 2029. This allows users to access sites and apps that have not yet transitioned away from Explorer. MS Edge is the default web portal for MS Windows users. Due to government rulings on its anti-competitive practices, Microsoft was forced in the European Union to let users remove its Edge web browser - inclusive of its Bing search engine to comply with users' interests

Google Chrome is the most widely used web browser in the world. As of the first quarter 2021, the Google Chrome web browser had a 65 percent share of the market, followed by Apple’s Safari with an 18 percent share.1 The MS Edge web browser takes an entirely different approach from Internet Explorer; it will be available on all of Microsoft operating system devices and concentrate on security and privacy. In 2018, MS Edge was made available for installation on Apple and Google Android devices. It provides a continuous and synchronized browsing experience from mobile devices to Microsoft Windows PCs.

The Amazon Silk web browser comes loaded in the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet; it divides and segments computational tasks between a local computer and the cloud. The assumption is that Amazon will be extending Silk for extension beyond loading books onto Kindle tablet devices.

There are open source niche web browsers which have been developed based upon the Web 2.0 standards and the Chromium project; their interface has been optimized for efficient social networking. HTML5 provides the capability to develop web applications which are visually rich and comparable to the native applications that are designed to run on a specific device such as an iPad or an Android-based tablet. Web browsers were re-engineered and upgraded for HTML5:

  • Apple Safari embraced HTML5's video-playing feature as an alternative to Adobe's Flash player.

  • Google Chrome is a leader in HTML5 development.

  • Mozilla Firefox includes support for HTML 5 technology.

  • Microsoft Edge was updated and optimized to run HTML5.

Many web browsers are based upon the Chromium open source project. The Chromium website contains design documents, architecture overviews, testing information, and libraries for building and working with the Chromium source code. Chromium will be ahead of Google Chrome with releases, bug fixes, new features, etc. Chromium usually gets updated every few hours, while Google Chrome gets updated every few weeks. Chromium does not transfer its data to Google, which allows developers to build browsers with excellent privacy and data security features, hence attracting many users. Microsoft Edge now is based on the Chromium project.


Mobile Device Operating Systems

Mobile Devices
Apple iPad and iPhone Microsoft Phone and 10 Devices Google Android-based Mobile Devices
Apple Proprietary Software Microsoft Proprietary Software Open Source Architecture
 

Operating System Integration

Apple iOS Microsoft Phone Google Android
iOS and Apple Mac OS X Microsoft Windows 7, 8, 10 to 11 Google Chrome OS
OS X to macOS Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 IOT: Internet of Things

Intel Corporation and Nokia:
MeeGo Platform replaced by Tizen.
Smartphones and Mobile Devices LuneOS - formerly webOS: Hewlett-Packard
and LG Electronics
Jolla Sailfish Tablet Computing Devices Mozilla Firefox OS

In terms of volume, the Google Android operating system platform is the leading mobile operating system. Samsung, with its vertically integrated business model, is the leader in marketing smartphones based on the Google Android operating system. The initial version of Google Chrome open source operating system was released in the second quarter 2011. It has had negligible market impact, has received indifferent technical reviews, and clearly is a work in progress. There are indications that it will be repositioned for utilization in Internet-based content delivery and digital content. The Apple iOS operating system runs the iPhone, iPad, and the newer generations of Apple televisions. Apple continues to unify its iOS and Mac OS X ecosystem: apps, interfaces, and data. This strategy started in the third quarter of 2011 with its Lion operating system. The user interaction with the Mac desktop and laptop operating system has been made to act more like an iPad. The iOS and Mac OS X - now macOS operating systems share the Darwin core and multiple frameworks. This strategy has continued with macOS Big Sur, Catalina, and Mojave operating systems on its Wintel Mac personal computing platform.

Google Android and Apple iOS remain the leading operating systems; each platform has significant hardware and intellectual property advantages that have wide acceptance.

Microsoft failed to turn the Windows Phone operating system, which runs on its handsets, into a vibrant alternative to iOS and Android. To generate more interest from developers, Microsoft designed Windows 10 to run on PCs, smartphones, tablets, and other devices and promote cross platform app development. Microsoft Surface is a highly rated device; but it does not have a large share of the tablet market. Under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft made the decision to make Windows free on devices with screens smaller than nine inches, a category consisting mainly of smartphones and tablets, along with some laptop-like products. There are versions of MS Office applications for Android and iOS. Microsoft revised its strategy to concentrate on the broader mobile business.

MeeGo is a Linux-based open source mobile operating system project. Primarily targeted at mobile devices and information appliances in the consumer electronics market, MeeGo was designed to act as an operating system for hardware platforms: netbooks, entry-level desktops, tablet computers, mobile computing and communications devices, in-vehicle infotainment devices, SmartTV / ConnectedTV, IPTV-boxes, smartphones, and other embedded systems. MeeGo was canceled in September 2011, in favor of Tizen. Samsung has merged a portion of its operating system research with the Tizen project. The assumption is that Samsung will be introducing phones running the Tizen operating system. It will be sold in partnership with national mobile operators.

In August 2011, Hewlett-Packard terminated its flagship webOS-based TouchPad tablet following poor sales. The webOS platform is considered a viable mobile platform, but supported only HP software and the scarcity of applications was a major shortcoming. Most developers prefer to work on Apple's iOS or Google's Android because both are used on millions of devices. In 2012, Hewlett-Packard made the decision to turn webOS into an open source, non-hardware specific platform. The assumption is that HP will be evaluating whether and how to challenge Android. Manufacturers that wanted to participate in the smartphone and the tablet markets were forced to either write their own operating system or adopt Google's Android platform. An open source webOS would provide hardware companies with a way to diversify their device lineup and reduce their dependence on Google. By sharing webOS with the open source community, HP retained ownership and revamped webOS while having a fallback position. The webOS operating system is a multi-tasking operating system designed for smart devices and smart TVs. In 2013, Hewlett-Packard licensed webOS to LG Electronics. LG has been using it with smart TVs and refrigerators; it is a stable platform. There is a webOS Open Source Edition. According to the LG chief technology officer executive, the webOS functionality also will be applied to web-based applications.

Jolla Sailfish is an open source Linux-variant mobile device operating system intended for utilization with smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and other devices. It is based on the MeeGo Mer core base. Sailfish is supported on ST-Ericsson's NovaThor platforms. The business model includes availability on multiple chipset technologies. In addition to Jolla-brand smartphones, Sailfish was promoted as being available to handset manufacturers for use on their own hardware with a SDK: software developer's kit.

The Mozilla Foundation has released a Firefox smartphone operating system. The goal is to provide handset manufacturers with an operating system to be used in an inexpensive phone. The Firefox operating system smartphones provides a web browser, architecture for sending texts and e-mail, and camera support. Apps on the Firefox OS are being developed in HTML5.

Technology Partner - Resource Center


Footnote 1:

Web analytics firm Statcounter, reported in the New York Post - online, May 20, 2021.


Sources

New York Post - online, "Microsoft to Finally Kill Web Browser Internet Explorer", by Will Feuer - May 20, 2021.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/internet-explorer-11-end-of-support

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