by Michelle Lentz
Last night was a monumental milestone in the history of our nation. We’ve also had some small, but notable milestones with two of your favorite technology firms.
It seems only appropriate that an underdog browser, first released in early November 2004, would rise to claim 20% of the market share this month. Back in 2004, Internet Explorer had a firm grip on the market and alternate browsers were hardly considered.
According to data released from Net Applications, Firefox grabbed 20% of the web browser market in October 2008, planting it firmly at #2. Now, I realize 20% isn’t that much, but consider that IE has Microsoft and the power of expensive advertising behind it, as well as being the default browser on every PC purchased. Firefox relies primarily on word of mouth marketing.
Flickr had it’s 3 billionth photo uploaded on Monday. With that milestone, Flickr has grown 50% in the year since the 2 billionth photo was added to the service. While Flickr still pales in comparison to Facebook, which has over 10 billion photos, it still shows a dedicated user base and the ability to scale. It also shows that you can successfully charge for services in the Web 2.0 landscape. (In case you’re curious, Flickr’s milestone photo was of a door.)
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Contact Michelle with your news, apps, and events via email, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed. Visit Michelle at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology. You can also catch Michelle presenting on Twitter at the upcoming DevLearn ’08 in San Jose.