In October 2005, Safari's market share as measured by Market Share (By Net Applications) was 2.56 percent.  In October 2006, Safari's market share comes in at 3.93 percent. To view Safari's growth over the past year, click here.  The rise from 2.56 to 3.93 represents a year-over-year growth of 54 percent (rounded to the nearest whole percent, actual rise is 53.5 percent) for the month of October.

The 54 percent growth in October 2006 outpaces the year-over-year growth for both September 2006 and August 2006 when growth came in at 48 and 46 percent respectively.  On a month-to-month comparison between here's how the numbers stack up:

Safari experienced a 11.3 percent increase from September 2006 rising from 3.53 percent 3.93 in October 2006.  This outpaces the 10 percent growth seen between August 2006 and September 2006.  Since January 2006, Safari's market share has increased from 3.00 to 3.93 percent, representing 31 percent growth in just nine months, up from the 17.7 percent increase from January 2006 to September 2006.

This data clearly shows that Safari's growth is accelerating and is showing no signs of slowing down.  One doesn't even have to look at the data, just look at Safari's growth over the past year.  The slope since August 2006 clearly shows the acceleration.

Safari is the default Internet browser on Apple's Mac OS X operating system, it can be used as a proxy to demonstrate the growth in the Mac user vase.  What I'd like to point out is that many OS X users do not use Safari, some have decided to use other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Camino. So it's logical to conclude that the Safari data is actually underestimating the expansion of the Mac user base.

Internet Explorer Continues Decline
Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has fallen 6 percent year-over-year falling from 86.54 percent in October 2005 to 81.36 percent in October 2006.  This outpaced the 5.5 percent fall year-over-year for September.

Firefox Growth Slows
Mozilla's Firefox browser is up 51 percent year-over-year rising from 8.59 percent to 12.96 percent over the same period.  This is slower growth than the 65 percent growth for September.

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