tag:,2009:/1/tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232- 2009-11-23T19:51:51Z Comments for China-based Browser Maxthon Going Global in 2007 Movable Type 4.23-en tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232 2007-01-01T20:19:26Z 2007-12-16T23:16:40Z China-based Browser Maxthon Going Global in 2007 Written by Gang Lu and edited by Richard MacManus. Original version posted on Gang Lu's blog The MObilenoDE. Maxthon (formerly known as MyIE) is a browser that reportedly has 30% of the browser market in its home country of China, second only to IE and ahead of Firefox. It is a powerful tabbed, fully customizable... Gang Lu Written by Gang Lu and edited by Richard MacManus. Original version posted on Gang Lu's blog The MObilenoDE.

Maxthon (formerly known as MyIE) is a browser that reportedly has 30% of the browser market in its home country of China, second only to IE and ahead of Firefox. It is a powerful tabbed, fully customizable and 100% free Internet browser built on top of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) platform. The milestone Maxthon 2.0 beta was released early last month. We carried out an in-depth interview with SVP & Partner at Maxthon Netanel Jacobsson (former Business Development Director at AOL/ICQ), who told us the full story of this exciting browser and its bid for global success. 

The History of Maxthon

The interview starts with a bit of history about Maxthon, a browser generally not well known in the Western world. Netanel said that MyIE was originally created by a Chinese man called Changyou, who wanted to customize his IE browser. MyIE became the first browser to support tabbed browsing. Changyou posted most of the code onto his BBS, but unexpectedly left the project due to personal reasons in 2000. Luckily, one of his admirers Jeff Chen decided to continue the development and released a new version with the name MyIE2. MyIE2 grew very fast, with massive contributions from passionate users all over the world. They communicated via BBS, Forums and IM - and helped on developing the plugins, sites, skins, debugging, etc.

Netanel said that Maxthon users are very passionate about the IE browser, but they want more from IE than Microsoft provided - so they formed a community to build and maintain Maxthon. 

]]> MyIE2 was renamed Maxthon in 2003. It was seed funded by the first Skype investor Morten Lund, together with WI Harper Group in 2005. In 2006 Maxthon received a major investment from US-based VC firm Charles River Ventures.

More than IE - The Features of Maxthon2 Beta

In early November 2006, the Maxthon 2.0 beta was released - featuring a completely re-designed UI and core code. Still, Maxthon 2.0 beta is fully compatible with Internet Explorer. It has the same basic browsing functionalities, but also provides many rich features to improve the surfing experience. Some of the highlights are:

  • Advanced proxy function - allows the use of different proxies for different web sites, ensuring the best browsing speed and web site accessibility.
  • User Interface Multi-Thread technology - greatly reduces the chance of browser lockup, (e.g. caused by some Ajax operations) and browser crashes.
  • Modular design - loads only the required components, ensuring the most efficient use of system resources.
  • Highly customizable skinning and interface system - supports anything from the simple windows classic to the most crafted skins and advanced layouts.
  • Ultra powerful filter - the system can filter not only ads, but also any malicious code; removing web annoyances and improving browser safety.
  • Multi-users password - protected profile system protects users privacy without compromising program portability.

People always complain about IE’s security issues (even the newly released IE7) and its non-compliance with many standards. Netanel said that the Maxthon 2.0 beta provides Online Maxthon Security Updates to reduce the risks of certain un-patched Internet Explorer vulnerabilities; and Maxthon Smart Acceleration (MSA) technology significantly improves browsing speed. He said the Maxthon team is working hard to fully support the Gecko engine, which will be added to Maxthon 2.0 final version.

The Browser Market in China

The Chinese browser market is dominated by IE and Maxthon - Firefox usage is very low in China. I asked Netanel about the 30% market share that Maxthon reportedly has in China. Netanel said it’s actually very hard to give an exact figure to show how popular Maxthon is in China, because sometimes Maxthon is still counted as IE in the figures. Netanel said: 

"We have 12 million active users monthly and over 73 million downloads [over] the world. There is no doubt Maxthon is the second after IE in China and I also hope the market share will be more than 30% very soon."

Maxthon's Revenue

Netanel said that Maxthon's revenues are mainly from search, but also from subscription services and donations. He said that other business models would be introduced soon. It is very interesting to note that Maxthon has been revenue positive since 2005, with a stable business model and low burn rate - not many startups can match that today.

Maxthon in 2007

Maxthon is actually the only Chinese Internet Software company with a global presence. With its success in China and the brilliant features in Maxthon 2.0, Maxthon is ready for the worldwide market. Netanel said they are growing very fast globally, especially in the US. Also a lot of new users are young, which is a good trend for Maxthon. 

In 2007, Maxthon will be working actively with local communities in the US and Europe. It will start organizing Maxthon meetups and developer conferences, to officially show the power of Maxthon and promote its presence in the global market. 

"We will bring fresh air to the [browser] world in the coming new year", Netanel added.

I asked Netanel about the final release of Maxthon 2.0. Netanel said he hoped it would be sometime in the spring 2007. 

Netanel concluded by describing Maxthon as a grass roots movement, more than a product - due to the support of its passionate world-wide user community. Netanel said:

"[…] We can see that the role of the browser is changing and is becoming the focal point of customization and personalization. It is the place where users can choose to run their applications and in this sense it is kind of taking over the role of the OS. […] Maxthon is going to become a major platform for the delivery of the new web services and you can expect to see some interesting examples of this during 2007[…]. "

Written by Gang Lu. See also Read/WriteWeb’s Web Browser Faceoff.

]]> tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41632 Comment from China Law Blog on 2007-01-01 China Law Blog http://www.chinalawblog.com Any national security concerns with this?

]]> 2007-01-01T21:13:48Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41633 Comment from Robert Scoble on 2007-01-02 Robert Scoble http://scobleizer.com I have a couple of videos with Maxthon's founder (and a demo) up on my video blog:

(Interview) http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1286/browser-war-part-237-maxthons-ceo-gives-a-look-behind-chris-pirillos-favorite-browser

and

http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1287/get-a-quick-look-at-new-browser-maxthon (Demo)

]]> 2007-01-02T08:19:00Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41634 Comment from John Dowdell on 2007-01-02 John Dowdell http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd For "national security concerns", I wouldn't think so, because many communities and businesses have developed atop the core Internet Explorer ActiveX Controls over the past decade. The "MyIE" project is one that continued on.

You could argue it's a browser, you could argue it's a browser extension... first time I've seen "market share" estimated for a varietal IE shell, though.

The safety concerns seem like they'd be similar to that for installing a browser extension. I don't if they use Windows System calls or just JavaScript and configuration files.

jd/adobe

]]> 2007-01-02T12:47:58Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41635 Comment from F.D. Athow on 2007-01-02 F.D. Athow I absolutely love Maxthon. Been a user of Netcaptor before and tried Firefox but never really looked back after jumping to Maxthon. That said, I am not too thrilled by the version 2.0 which seems to be lacking stability (it is still in beta AFAIR) and takes away some functionality. Thumbs up though for showing a fourth way.

]]> 2007-01-02T13:53:39Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41636 Comment from John on 2007-01-02 John Better than Avant Browser (configure it/take out most of tabs), never!

]]> 2007-01-02T21:26:21Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41637 Comment from Mike Foster on 2007-01-02 Mike Foster I wonder whether the "Advanced proxy function" is the reason for the big success in China ...

]]> 2007-01-02T22:23:27Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41638 Comment from Erikwas on 2007-01-02 Erikwas I have used this browser since it was MyIE. 2.0 may still be in beta but 1.5 is still as great as it everwas. Besides being quick and tabbed - which I totally enjoyed ever since being introduced to tabs, My favorite feature of Maxthon 1.5 is the ability to configure any app in windows to be selectable from a toolbar in Maxthon. It also has an extension that allows capture of code and flash that no other browser provides -I can open regedit and msconfig right from an icon in the browser toolbar - great feature - Enjoy!

]]> 2007-01-03T00:07:43Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41639 Comment from Eric on 2007-01-02 Eric to #6:
Of course not. as the great features mentioned on this page, i use it because it's powerful, convenient, and stable(v1.5.*). it's true that some sites can be visited only with proxies in mainland china, but it's just a tiny part of the sites chinese usually visit.

i am a chinese, and i am thrilled for the possibility of making mistakes in english writing.

]]> 2007-01-03T03:15:40Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41640 Comment from Erich on 2007-01-02 Erich why there are so many people think the internet in China is like a jail? If I am the leader of China, there is a website keep saying my policy is wrong,unfair,unreasonble,I would also block it, I dont wanna others misleading my people, because they dont know what exactly happened in China.

]]> 2007-01-03T06:40:34Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41641 Comment from abc@home on 2007-01-05 abc@home Maxthon's success in China is not due to proxy. There are more than a dozen IE based browsers in China which have proxy functions similar to Maxthon (version 1.x). The new Maxthon 2.0 has much more advanced proxy functions, but it is still in beta stage and is not the reason for Maxthon's current success.

To see why users like Maxthon so much, there is nothing better than trying it personally. ;)

]]> 2007-01-06T04:10:59Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41642 Comment from Jack Yan on 2007-01-06 Jack Yan http://jackyan.com/blog I have just switched back to Maxthon after three months with IE7. Maxthon is noticeably faster and crashes far less, it doesn’t block some pop-ups (e.g. Blogger’s link dialogue box), and now that the Google Toolbar works with it, I don’t have a reason for going to IE7.

I prefer Maxthon to Firefox, which seems to have a problem with the Latin alphabet (it can’t even display quotation marks in the same font as the rest of the text, and I have tried this on every version on three Windows machines, though it is OK on the Mac). Strangely, Netscape was fine with this on a PC till 4·7, and after version 6, it has been incapable of displaying all letters in the same font as well. So much for those people who say these browsers are standards-compliant when they differ between platforms!

I don’t know how standards-compliant Maxthon is when it comes to non-font stuff, but all I know is that it works when I browse with it every day!

]]> 2007-01-07T01:45:46Z tag:72.47.210.69,2007://1.5232-comment:41643 Comment from jeremy liew on 2007-01-13 jeremy liew http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/01/14/safari-for-windows-and-the-power-of-the-default/ I used to be GM of Netscape. We found that in the minds of the public there is only room for two browsers: the default and one alternative. Maxathon is the default option in China. Firefox is the default in most of the rest of the world. I think it will be hard for Maxathon to make too much headway in the rest of the world - they may find themselves competing against Firefox more than they compete against IE. I've blogged about this more in detail (wrt rumors that Safari may be launching on Windows) at http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/01/14/safari-for-windows-and-the-power-of-the-default/ or just click on my name to follow the link

]]> 2007-01-14T04:28:12Z