When the folks from Mozilla prepared to launch their open-source Firefox 1.0 browser two years ago, their hope was to gain enough market share to compel Web sites to adopt open standards–rather than standardizing on Microsoft’s proprietary Internet Explorer browser technology. Job done. Firefox has anywhere from a 10% to 18% worldwide market share among browser users, depending who is counting, and almost every Web site that matters makes it possible for Firefox users to fully access their pages. The turning point came earlier this year when banks and financial services outfits including American Express and Fidelity switched over. Now, with the impending arrival of the Firefox 2.0 browser, you can expect Firefox to gain even more share and make it even more difficult for Microsoft to call the shots, technology-wise, on the Web.
One of the keys to Firefox’s initial success was its community marketing initiative. People signed up to help market and distribute the software via their Web sites or blogs, and contributed to help pay for advertisements in mainstream media outlets. The organization now has 180,000 registered community marketing volunteers. One contest last year resulted in 300 video commercials being produced–some of which have appeared on YouTube and other popular video sharing sites. Beard’s now trying to figure out how to get some of the commercials aired on cable TV and other video outlets.
Firefox is one of the best proof points I have seen that viral marketing works.