Exclusive: Microsoft Edge scores victory over Google Chrome in a key market
Microsoft Edge, the browser of business?
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AlthoughGoogle Chromecontinues to dominate theweb browserrankings,Microsoft’s flagship service is making headway in an important market, new data shows.
A survey of 3,000 employees conducted byTechRadar Pro, in collaboration withPerimeter 81, revealed that Microsoft Edge is the preferred web browser of the largest proportion of businesses (37.77%).
AlthoughGoogleChrome isn’t far behind (33.01%), the share enjoyed by Edge in the business world is far greater than its position in the broader market, whichStatcounterplaces at roughly 4%.
An uphill battle for Microsoft Edge
Although the Microsoft Edge user base expanded rapidly in the months following its relaunch in early 2020, many of these gains stemmed from the retirement of Edge Legacy and Internet Explorer.
Despite a consistent stream of feature updates, renewed marketing efforts and the integration of Edge into the company’s newWindows 11operating system, Microsoft has since struggled to move the needle in any significant way.
The latest data shows that, although Edge has leapfrogged Firefox in the rankings, it still falls a long way shy ofSafari(18%) and Chrome (65%), the two default browsers on iOS and Android, respectively.
Microsoft has also scored a number of own goals that are unlikely to have ingratiated the new browser with potential new users.
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For instance, the company was recentlyforced to walk back a policythat added an unreasonable amount of friction to the process of changing the default browser after users made their displeasure known.
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Microsoft alsocame under firefor efforts to block links opened via its own services (e.g. Windows 11 widgets, the Start Menu etc.) from launching in any other browser but Edge, another tactic that drew criticism from the community.
However, the indication that Edge has become the browser of choice in the business sphere will lift the spirits at Microsoft, suggesting the company’s efforts to lean into qualities like security are paying dividends.
Within the last year, for example, the company has bolstered the in-builtpassword manager, rolled out an integratedVPNservice and introduced a “Super Duper Secure mode” designed to shield against all manner of browser-based attacks.
If Microsoft Edge is to compete head-to-head with the market leaders, the team will need to stake a claim to a particular niche or use case. In the business market, perhaps it has found one.
Joel Khalili is the News and Features Editor at TechRadar Pro, covering cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, AI, blockchain, internet infrastructure, 5G, data storage and computing. He’s responsible for curating our news content, as well as commissioning and producing features on the technologies that are transforming the way the world does business.
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