Web surfers shun browsers

The web may have popularised the internet, but most users now connect to the net using non-browser applications, according to figures released this week.

Media players and instant-messaging applications are now by far the most popular internet applications, dwarfing the web browser, according to December figures from Nielsen//NetRatings released on Tuesday. Seventy-six per cent of active internet users access the net using a non-browser application.

The internet is increasingly working its way into applications outside the browser, blurring the lines between the desktop and the online world, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

Nielsen//NetRatings analyst Abha Bhagat said in a statement: "With 76 per cent of web surfers using internet applications, functionality has grown beyond the browser to become a fundamental piece of the overall desktop."

The most popular application in December was Windows Media Player, reaching 34 per cent of internet users; AOL Instant Messenger (20.27 per cent); RealNetworks' players (19.76 per cent); MSN Messenger (19.31 per cent) and Yahoo! Messenger (12.26 per cent).

The web browser Mosaic, introduced a decade ago, made the internet more accessible to non-technical users by adding a graphical user interface, but industry observers say the spread of internet applications is taking the IT industry into a post-web world.

Matt Broersma writes for ZDNet UK