In September 2005, Safari's market share as measured by Market Share (By Net Applications) was 2.39 percent.  In September 2006, Safari's market share comes in at 3.53 percent. To view Safari's growth over the past year, click here.  The rise from 2.39 to 3.53 represents a year-over-year growth of 48 percent (rounded to the nearest whole percent, actual rise is 47.7 percent) for the month of September.

The 48 percent growth in September 2006 outpaces the year-over-year growth for August 2006 when growth came in at 46 percent.  On a month-to-month comparison between August 2006 and September 2006, Safari experienced 10 percent growth as market share grew from 3.21 percent to 3.53 percent respectively.  Since January 2006, Safari's market share has increased from 3.00 to 3.53 percent, representing 17.7 percent growth in just eight months.

Safari's continued rise is a clear sign that the Mac user base is expanding.  September's data is another data point in a series of numbers that show that the number of Macintosh users is growing.  Note that Safari is only available on Apple's Mac operating system, OS X.  In the August post, I stated the following:

"By the end of calender 2006, Safari will have a even greater market share, perhaps as high as 3.5 percent in my view."

September's performance exceeded my expectations and I underestimated Apple's growing popularity.  It looks as though Safari's market share will likely approach or even surpass 4 percent by the end of 2006.  The 2006 holiday buying season is yet to commence.  I still maintain my position that Mac sales will be extremely brisk during the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has fallen 5.5 percent year-over-year falling from 86.87 percent in September 2005 to 82.10 percent in September 2006.  Mozilla's Firefox browser is up 65 percent year-over-year rising from 7.55 percent to 12.46 percent over the same period.

Related Posts

• Apple's Mac OS Market Share Rises 24 Percent Year Over Year
• Safari Market Share Continues Upward Trend Up 46 Percent
• Safari Market Share Rises 65 Percent Year-Over-Year