Maxthon Receives
2008 "Webware 100" Award for Browsers
Beijing, April 21, 2008
A few years ago practically no one outside China had heard of the browser Maxthon. Today Webware, a CNET site, bestowed a 2008 Webware 100 award for Maxthon 2 in the Browser category. The Web 2.0 user community cast nearly two million votes in an online voting poll that ultimately selected the winners. Finalists for the 2008 Webware 100 Awards were selected by the editors of Webware.
The 2008 Webware 100 Awards recognize the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications leading the next wave of innovation. Webware editors received and reviewed thousands of entries. A complete list of the winners can be found at www.webware.com/100.
Maxthon 2 is the creation of Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon International in Beijing. In 2002 Chen began adapting code that works on the same browser engine as Microsoft Internet Explorer to a create a browser that has more features, is easier to use, and has more security than Microsoft’s browser.
As word of mouth about Maxthon spread through the Chinese Internet, other programmers volunteered to work on the software for free. Today Maxthon is the favorite browser of 30 percent of China’s estimated 162 million Internet users and is rapidly increasing its market share in the rest of the world.
Since the launch of version 2.0 in 2006, it has been downloaded 40 million times, increasing its cumulative total to more than 140 million downloads. These accomplishments were achieved without marketing or advertising, attesting to the growing number of fans who have spread the word about Maxthon's abilities.
The Maxthon browser was awarded the Red Herring Asia 100 prize in 2005 and was named as one of the best 100 products by PC World. Use of Maxthon is increasing in the United States and Europe, where users account for about a third of Maxthon’s total. The browser has received backing from Morton Lund, the founder of Skype, from investments firms WI Harper and Charles River Ventures, and from Google. As well, it’s been endorsed – and copied – by Microsoft.
“Our goals are simple,” Chen said. “We want to be the best, but we can always see opportunities to make it better. Something like the Webware 100 award is satisfying because it’s recognition we hadn’t received outside China.”
“The Webware 100 list has proven to be such a valuable resource for people new to Web 2.0,” said Rafe Needleman, editor at Webware and CNET. “We honor those organizations who strive to deliver the most innovative Web 2.0 sites, services and applications.”
Winners are invited to celebrate at the Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco (http://www.web2expo.com/) held April 22-25, 2008 at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco. Webware will honor the winners with a celebration as part of the Web 2.0 Expo Booth Crawl on Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. PDT on the show floor. The Web 2.0 Expo is the official partner of the 2008 Webware 100 Awards. To view all the winners and finalists, go to: http://www.webware.com/100.