Europe's browsers strike back
The European way of regulating Big Tech has attracted quite a bit of criticism in the past years — but it seems to be working, at least in some parts of the industry. Just take a look at the browser landscape. After the Digital Markets Act (DMA) came into force in March, several challenger browser companies reported a significant increase in installs.
The introduction of the DMA has quite possibly sparked the next big shift in the browser landscape, akin to the tectonic changes that have been happening roughly once per decade since the early 1990s.
What could be different this time, however, is that it won’t be just one browser that becomes a new market leader, but rather a range of independent players getting better visibility and a chance to challenge the duopoly of Chrome and Safari.
Interestingly, quite a few of those newer players — like Ecosia, Aloha, Opera, and Vivaldi — are also based here in Europe. Notable exceptions are, of course, Firefox and Arc, which are also benefitting from the new regulation.
It’s still highly unlikely that challenger browsers will gain a market share comparable with the industry behemoths — but as long as there’s enough of them on the market, that won’t be necessary. And with a level playing field, everyone will be able to choose a browser based on their preferences and not on what’s supported by the company that built the OS they're using.
For more context on the competitive landscape and a bit of browser relationship advice, check out this recent piece by Thomas Macaulay. ??
What else we’re writing about
??? In this week's podcast, Linnea and Andrii talk about multilingual LLMs, Raspberry Pi, OpenAI and Scarlett Johansson, AI-written essays, and more. The guest of the show is?Peter Garraghan, CEO and co-founder at?Mindgard.
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