This comes by way of Statcounter and it looks at the week of May 14 to May 20, 2012. During that time period, Chrome had a higher traffic share than IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, or any other web browser. More tech-savvy people have a higher likelihood of using Chrome, but regular consumers still dominate the market of course.

In North America, Internet Explorer (37%) is still the leading browser (Chrome has 26%). The same can be said in Asia where IE has over 50% in Japan and nearly three-quarters in China and South Korea. IE continues its massive lead in Oceania too, whereas Firefox is the leader in Europe. So, where is Chrome making up its numbers? As it turns out, South America is where it’s at: Chrome has nearly a 50% market share there and along with incremental growth everywhere else, that was enough to dethrone Microsoft’s browser.

[Source]

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Whatever the hiccups the dedicated cloud-supported Web browser for Amazon’s Kindle Fire had been experienced in the past is irrelevant now. Hacker TyHi from XDA-Developers has built a Silk package that can be ported to CyanogenMod 7 ROM for the same Kindle Fire, then to many other rooted devices running CyanogenMod 7, or devices running some MIUI custom ROMs. “Many” here means not all devices, but the spread of Silk widens, so to speak, by the supporting efforts of hacker named puneet_champ who corrected permissions and repackaged the Silk app. Procedure to get you Silk on your non-Amazon rooted device is pretty simple:

1. Download the pack here or here.
2. Use Root Explorer to copy the lib files to /system/lib set permissions the same as the others.
3. Install all of the .apks like you would side load.
4. Copy the com.amazon.cloud9-1.apk from /data/app to /system/app
5. Reboot and enjoy

However, there are still plenty of reports on force closures, or mess-ups with Amazon accounts and syncing.  So if your device is not mentioned as a successful port in this database, you might wait a little bit longer. Owners of Nexuses and other devices running ICS may also want to wait a tidbit longer: adjusting Silk into a compliance with the Ice Cream Sandwich Android framework continues.

When success stories are reported, results are dubious still. First, just a simple porting of the Silk browser to other than Kindle Fire devices are nowhere in the position to cure inherent problems with the overall Amazon cloud support for Web browsing. Moreover, an influx of many devices running Silk without Amazon’s permission might worsen the workload for that cloud even more. Second, many devices where Silk was ported to were just Android phones with their smallish screens. Navigating controls of Silk just don’t scale down gracefully for these, as Silk is technically a browser for tablets with their bigger screens.

Me, I didn’t put Silk on my Nook Color just yet.

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I think we all know that the Apple iPad is the current dominating force in the world of tablets. That much is obvious, but I don’t think too many of us thought that the proportions were this far out of whack. Comscore has put out a report stating that the iPad makes up an astounding 97.2% of all tablet web traffic.

That leaves just 2.8% for every other tablet, including those of the Windows 7 and Android variety (plus webOS, for those of you who snagged a $99 TouchPad). This Comscore report is just one way of measuring things, but I think the numbers just don’t add up. For starters, it is based solely on recognizing the web browser being used on the device and these aren’t always terribly accurate.

For instance, someone with an Android 2.2 Froyo or Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablet (like the original Galaxy Tab) could show up as a smartphone rather than a tablet and thus not be included in these figures. Similarly, someone with a Honeycomb tablet could be using a browser that is detected as a desktop webkit browser rather than one of the tablet variety. Again, this user would not be included in the figure.

I don’t deny that Apple’s iPad has to be the biggest dog in the tablet yard, but I don’t think 97.2% sounds right.

The post Comscore says iPad makes up 97.2% of all tablet web traffic appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

As much as you may like your iPad, it’s still missing in a couple of departments. Maybe you want to watch some Flash video. Maybe you want to have an alternative web browser to Safari. Well, Skyfire is on its way to the iPad and it’s looking to make quite the splash.

Not surprisingly, the iPad take on the alternative web browser will borrow much of its inspiration from Skyfire for the iPhone. As can be expected, Flash video support comes in tow and it works by using Skyfire’s servers to convert Flash into iPad-friendly HTML5 content.

The Skyfire browser for iPad also comes with Facebook and Twitter QuickView, Fireplace Feed Reader (for Facebook), Google Reader integration, and an integrated Facebook Like button for every webpage. Yes, they’re pretty heavy on the Facebook stuff.

Considering that Skyfire was able to sell 300,000 copies of its iPhone browser within the first few hours of its release (at a buck a piece), I would not at all be surprised if they enjoyed similar success with the iPad version when it arrives. Flash is coming to the iPad. Sort of.

[IntoMobile via Skyfire, MacNN]

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Got an iPhone or an iPod touch? Mildly frustrated by the lack of Flash support on your favorite iOS device? As it turns out, that could soon be changing with an interesting workaround. Even more interesting, the solution is apparently Apple approved too.

Skyfire 2.0 has indeed been approved by Apple and it is slated to show up in the App Store this Thursday. It’s another web browser alternative to mobile Safari, but it packs the extra punch of being able to play Flash-based video content on your iPhone.

To do this, Skyfire takes the Flash content, remotely converts it to HTML5, and relays the new stuff back to your iOS device. The converted video is then perfectly happy on your iPhone, but you will have to wait for Skyfire’s remote servers to do the lifting for you.

This won’t work for Flash games or anything like that, but it does mean that you can go ahead and stream your favorite Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert clips now. Skyfire for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad will sell for $2.99.

SOURCE: BGR

The post View Adobe Flash on iPhone (iOS) thanks to Skyfire 2.0 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

SkyFire Mobile Browser with Flash Support for Google Android OS

It looks like Fennec isn’t the only one to offer a browser alternative on Android-based smartphones. The kind folks at Skyfire have come forward with the first Flash Video enabled mobile browser for Android. And this isn’t a pre-alpha release either.

In addition to support for all sorts of Flash video-watching on your Android device, Skyfire 2.0 for Android also comes with something called the SkyBar. This is a cloud-computing toolbar that offers three key features missing from the native Android browser (and from Fennec).

First, if you happen to come to a site that shows up with broken Flash video, you can hit the Video icon and it will repair the video so that it becomes viewable. Second, the Explore button brings “smart media recommendations” based on your browsing habits. Third, the Share feature lets you upload sites, videos, and links to your favorite social networking accounts in one click.

Skyfire is already a fairly popular browsing alternative on Windows Mobile-based handsets, so it’s good to see that they’re capitalizing on the growing Android market too. They’re also taking advantage of the rising buzz around social media and Flash video. Is this Flash support a shot at Apple? Maybe just a little.

Skyfire 2.0 for Android is a free download. Check out the video demo for a more in-depth look.

SkyFire Mobile Browser with Flash Support for Google Android OS

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So, if you’re already rocking one of the older versions of Opera Mini, why would you want to upgrade to this latest iteration? One of the most notable new features is the introduction of tabbed browsing. From the comfort of my laptop, I’ve become far too accustomed to having several tabs open at the same time and now I can have the same experience on my Nokia E71.

The tabbed browsing is fantastic for multitasking, assuming that your smartphone can handle that kind of added load. Other updates over the current 4.2 version of Opera include Speed Dial startup links (like the Chrome homepage), password management, and a “Turbo” pre-cached mode for slower connections.

Opera Mini will work on most Java-enabled phones, so that includes the vast majority of Nokia and BlackBerry devices in the audience, at the very least. If you’re running Windows Mobile or something similar, Opera Mini 5 should be good to go. To get it, point your mobile browser to m.opera.com/next.

Source: Lifehacker

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You’ve probably never heard of Torch Mobile and it’s far from being the biggest player in the game, but this is still a significant acquisition for the BlackBerry-maker. Why? Torch Mobile produces Iris, a WebKit-based mobile browser.

While the BlackBerry has traditionally been great for mobile email, the BlackBerry Browser isn’t up to snuff with some of the better alternatives on the market. Going with a WebKit-based browser can offer a huge improvement for RIM and BlackBerry, rounding off the BB experience a little better.

Since the acquisition has only just been announced, I’m thinking that they’ll still need to iron out some details before anything comes out from this new relationship. Chances are that the WebKit-based BlackBerry Browser won’t be ready until some time next year at the earliest.

Source: BlackBerryCool

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