Chris Swenson, director of software industry analysis at research firm NPD Group said that with the introduction of Windows Live OneCare, a major competing security suite in May 2006, the market share of the leading manufactures of security software for personal computers - Symantec Corp & McAfee Inc, seems to have touched the ground.
Not only this, the smaller competitors such as CA Inc and Trend Micro Inc had also taken their share away from Symantec and McAfee. Norton software brand Symantec promised 64.7% of the U.S. retail market for security suites in the Q 4th of 2006, which is thought to be down from 76% in the same period of 2005, whereas McAfee’s share came down to 13% from 14.4% over the same period. The market share data are for suites of security software, which is expected to integrate at least three separate software programs catering definite requirements like virus protection, spyware and identity theft.
In the lost and found game of shares, the world’s No. 1 software manufacturer, Microsoft touted the biggest lump of new market share after it put forth its Windows Live OneCare security suite last year. The company was estimated to have 4.4% of the market through the Q 4 of 2006. While, on the other hand, CA’s share over got doubled to 5.7% from 2.3% a year earlier after it had integrated a feature unmatched by its competitors.
