Distribution of Speeds - Within and Across Countries

Based on all countries' speeds - not just the top 50's - the world average Internet speed clocks in at around 1.8 Mbits/s. A little over a fifth of Internet connections are 5 Mbits/s or faster, and more than half are 2 Mbits/s or faster.

The most colorful chart in the Royal Pingdom report looks not just at the average speed within a country, but how speeds are distributed. This graphic shows that while the slowest connection speeds (256 kbit/s) have almost disappeared in most countries, that they still comprise a good proportion of how much of the world connects to the Internet.

Today, Google is also introducing mod_pagespeed, a newmodule for Apache, the open-source Web server that runs most of the world's websites. This new module includes more than 15 on-the-fly optimizations that can reduce page load times by up to 50%.

There are, of course, business reasons behind Google's obsession with speed. At the end of the day, if pages load faster, more Internet users are likely to see more of Google's ads and recent research has shown that people are likely to just move on if your site doesn't load within 2 seconds.

In the latest edition of the Firefox browser, the team has introduced the following new features:

• Built-in support for Personas, Firefox's themeing system which lets you browse through a gallery of skins and apply different ones with just a click
• Plugin alerts: Firefox will now alert users if their plugins are out-of-date, a useful addition since older plugins can lead to performance problems and even security issues.
• Open native videos can now be viewed full-screen
• Drag-and-drop features: In the beta, you can drag and drop files from your computer into the browser allowing you to easily upload files from your PC to web sites. 
• Support for the WOFF font format
• Support for CSS, DOM, HTML5, and other developer features
• Improved JavaScript performance, overall browser responsiveness and startup time

Why Speed Matters

Although Firefox and its rival web browsers are all fighting to best Internet Explorer in terms of install base, they still pit themselves against each other with their unique features, being first to offer support for new standards, and of course, web browser performance.

It's in this last area that Firefox has struggled recently. Past builds showed Firefox beaten by the up-and-comer Google Chrome in boot-up, page-loading, and JavaScript performance. Despite Chrome's low market share of only around 4%, no company can safely ignore the competition when that competition is Google (just look at what Google did to the GPS market last week!).

Chrome may be a relatively unknown browser among mainstream users for now, but if Google holds true to their promises to launch their netbook operating system, Google Chrome OS, which uses the Chrome browser to run applications, there could be a whole new user base of Walmart shoppers who rapidly make a browser switch without even realizing it. And with Chrome's primary focus on browser speed, designed from the ground-up with the idea of running intensive web applications, Mozilla knows that one day Chrome could end up being serious competition...at least once the large majority of computing moves to the cloud. In fact, that day may have already arrived for some of today's web users.

To improve browser performance, Mozilla introduced a new JavaScript engine called TraceMonkey in Firefox 3.5. Many of the speed increases in 3.6 can now be attributed to this technology. However, TraceMonkey has to go up against Chrome's own system, V8, which Google optimized earlier this year to give their browser a 30% speed bump.

Of course, we'll need to see some formal tests completed before determining where the browsers stand today, but it's likely going to be a situation where the engines are neck-and-neck in terms of performance. While this aspect to the browser war may go unnoticed by most web surfers, it's the sort of situation where everyone wins. And the prize will be a faster web surfing experience, no matter which browser you choose to use.

Good for Mobile Web Developers

Of course, these are benchmarks and don't necessarily correlate directly into a superior user experience, but it is good to see that even iPhone 3G users will see significant speed gains from the 3.0 release. This should give mobile developers quite a boost, as they can now develop and run more complex, cross-platform compatible web apps that won't be hindered by the mobile browser's performance, though the Android-powered G1 is still pretty slow according to Medialets and the Palm Pre sees the same performance as a 3G with the 3.0 OS.

For now, however, there are also still a few million iPhone 3G users who haven't updated their phones' operating system yet...

The new site will be all about performance, "from Internet protocols to the browser to website development." When the Web is faster, the apps are faster; those idealist Googlers seem to think we should be browsing through pages, running complex apps, viewing enormous images, and streaming HD movies without delays or lag time of any kind.

Along with the new site, Google released this video explaining their intentions:

As with many Google initiatives, this one will require cooperation between all kinds of entities, from ISPs to web standards organizations to individual developers to end users; and it will require an immense advocacy effort for, as one performance evangelist put it, "changes, enhancements, or even alternatives" to the current standards and protocols that make up the architecture of the web.

This initiative also extends to the mobile web, the unloved stepchild of the Internet that has suffered the bitter rebuke, "Perhaps next year will be the year for mobile," for many years running. Google predicts a faster, better mobile web experience will lead to higher adoption rates and more mobile commerce.

Check out Google's stable of articles on optimization, including Google videos and "Tech Talks" with speakers from non-Google organizations. Google's also got a Make the Web Faster group, and Google Moderator is hosting a forum for performance-enhancing ideas and discussion thereof.

As web junkies and generally impatient people, we at ReadWriteWeb fully support the idea of a faster Internet. If the web was a bullet train, we'd be the kid asking, "Are we there yet?" after the first five minutes or so. We hope the efforts prompted by Google's speed initiative impress us all.