New Japanese Browser Seeks to Snag Market Share from Firefox, IE

The battle of the browsers always comes down to Mozilla's open-source Firefox and Micrsoft's tight-lidded Internet Explorer, and no matter how hard Opera, Flock, Safari, and the rest of the alternate browser try to join the fight, there just doesn't appear to be room for a third contender. Or is there?

Fenrir, a Japanse software company, apparently never got the memo and thinks it has a chance at snagging 5 percent of the browser market within the next few years. And while most of us would automatically shrug at such an impossibly ambitious notion, it would be a mistake to dismiss the company's claim without a second glance.

Most Americans have probably never heard of the Sleipnir browser, but in Japan, 6 percent of surfers are cruising the web with it (Fenrir says it's more like 9 percent). Like Firefox, Sleipir has built a reputation for itself based on its high level of customization, including the ability to switch back and forth between the Trident and Gecko layout engines (used by Internet Explorer and Firefox, respectively) with the click of a button.

Development of the Sleipnir browser began back in 2005 and there has always been an English version to correspond with the main Japanese version, but a recent spike in international demand has sparked the company to target Firefox and IE user more aggressively. In what would be no small task, the company says it wants to grow from its estimated 100,000 users all the way up to 17 million with a big focus on the English-speaking market.

Does Fenrir have a fighting chance? Give the download a try and see for yourself.