
Internet users know what they want and how to get it... no more 'I'm just browsing'...
Published: 2 January 2004 15:00 GMT
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
Is this story evidence of techie anti-web sentimen...
John Walsh
This is making news out of false definitions, quit...
Brian Catt
Nonesense. Unworthy of you. An online browser is u...
Anonymous
Your article tells me that more and more users ...
Anonymous
This article is poorly worded and misleading. Yes...
Anonymous
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