Microsoft might have released its newer-and-better-than-ever Internet Explorer 8 Web browser two weeks ago, but the launch doesn’t seem to have done much to dampen the growth of the Firefox Web browser. According to new data from Net Applications, Microsoft’s cumulative worldwide browser share for Internet Explorer (all versions) dropped from 67.44 percent in February to 66.82 percent in March; meanwhile, Firefox’s global market share increased in the same period from 21.77 percent to 22.05 percent—with Google’s Chrome and Apple’s Safari also showing gains.
Although the shifts in Net Applications’ data are small, they are just the latest installment in a long-running downtrend for Internet Explorer overall. However, owing to its formal introduction, IE8 itself did see a share increase from 1.17 percent for February to 3.07 percent in March.
However, new figures from StatCounter may give Redmond some cause for concern: according to StatCounter’s latest metrics, Firefox 3.0 three actually overtook Internet Explorer 7 usage in Europe during March 2009, accounting for 35 percent of the European browser market compared to IE7’s 34 percent‐although the installed base of all Internet Explorer versions still exceed the usage of all Firefox versions in Europe. Of course, all these metrics are imprecise instruments, but the trends seem to point in a clear direction: Internet users are slowly setting aside Internet Explorer and trying on different browsers for size.
Of course, Internet Explorer 8’s share of the browser market will substantially increase once it is bundled into versions of Microsoft’s Windows operating systems…a practice which has repeatedly run Microsoft afoul of antitrust authorities around the world and will undoubtedly generate new scrutiny with Windows 7.
