Mozilla Firefox, the fourth most used web browser with a market share of 3.15 per cent in the year 2022 has accused the leading tech giants namely android operating system manufacturer Google, iOS operating system Apple and Windows manufacturer Microsoft of not providing a conducive ecosystem to run a cross-party web browser on their platforms. The open-source browser has alleged in its report that, the operating system manufactured by these companies places their own browser at a prime position, making it difficult for users to shift to other web browsers.
Web Browser Market Share
The top three ranks in the most used browser list are occupied by Google Chrome, Safari and Microsoft Edge with a market share of 65.52%, 18.74%, and 4.29% respectively. There is a difference of 46.74 points between 1st and second positions in the list, notably, this difference reduces to 1.14% between the third and fourth. Google Chrome, Safari and Microsoft Edge web browser comes pre-installed with Android, iOS system, and Windows operating system. Android dominates the mobile operating systems with 89.58%.
Mozilla firefox in a report has said that, since iOS users use only the Safari browser, it leaves cross-platform web browsers only with the option of the Google operating system. Mozilla has lamented the lack of space for the development of cross-platform browsers. It has said that the dependence of cross-platform on a single platform amounts to the concentration of power in a single entity.
Mozilla Concerns
Regarding the installation of new cross-platforms, Mozilla has brought out in its report that, in some instances, the user’s decision to set an alternate web browser as default is not applied. The report further read that, in some cases, the operating system ignores the user’s choice to set an alternate web browser as default and presents its own system web browser.
Enforcing Rules Strictly.
Mozilla has said that regulators, those involved in making laws, and designing policies should pay heed to the competition in the web browser market, and take steps to prevent such harm due to such operating systems not taking any action leading to stagnation of competition. The company said that in recent years those responsible for making laws and policies are probing the digital market. Mozilla requested to apply the current and upcoming rules strictly.
“The operating system provider will in some scenarios bypass this decision and present their own browser rather than the selected default and in other cases, it will seek to undermine or reverse this decision,” it lamented.
Mozilla said that as Big Tech has so far failed to do better, “regulators, policymakers and lawmakers have spent considerable time and resources investigating digital markets”.
