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.
And of the active internet users accessing the net using a browser, the most popular destination among 46.89 per cent of respondants was found to be neowin.net. Allegedly.
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).