Internet Explorer market share continues to slide

by Pete Mason on 4 October 2010, 11:33

Tags: Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Mozilla

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Microsoft must have thrown a small party in July when Internet Explorer's market share rose for the first time in over a year.  The increase wasn't to last though, as the browser has dropped below the 60 per cent mark once again.

In its latest statistics, Net Applications reports that IE's market share fallen to 59.65 per cent - the lowest that it has been for many years.  This is a decrease of 0.75 per cent since last month and the first time that its share has been below 60 per cent since May of this year.

Chrome, on the other hand, has continued to show steady growth, now accounting for almost 8 per cent of the browser market.  Firefox held steady this month, accounting for just under 23 per cent.

IE's slip comes in spite of the launch of the IE9 beta in the middle of September.  The new version received a very warm reception and Microsoft has been beaming over the six million downloads it's gotten since launch.  This translates to a 0.34 per cent market share, which isn't too bad for a beta that's only been available for a few weeks.  With IE8 also gaining almost a quarter of a point, it was the older versions of the browser that led to this month's decrease.  Non-current versions of Internet Explorer lost over 1.1 per cent of the market compared to August, though Microsoft itself has admitted that this is to be expected as users migrate from the legacy browsers.

Meanwhile, mobile browsing continued to grow, now accounting for almost 3 per cent of the market.  Obviously iOS still rules the roost, moving up to a 1.18 per cent share, though Android also gained users.  Google's mobile OS now accounts for 0.24 per cent of all internet users.



HEXUS Forums :: 5 Comments

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Interesting reading, but I'm more interested in IE 5.5 and 6. When the hell are they gonna stop being used?
Never. Never, ever, ever. After the apocalypse, all that will be left will be cockroaches and IE6 running on a few government machines in some bunker somewhere.
Been using the FireFox 4b6 now as my main browser, but its as slow as anything compared to IE8. Governments cant see the need to upgrade unless its dead, as those Windows NT4 and 2000 machines will still be chugging along.
Stringent
Been using the FireFox 4b6 now as my main browser, but its as slow as anything compared to IE8. Governments cant see the need to upgrade unless its dead, as those Windows NT4 and 2000 machines will still be chugging along.

I was the same, was using FireFox and then the FF4 beta's up until 4b5 and tbh its took a swing far to close to Chrome. With Chrome working and doing everything I needed it to, FireFox is now relegated to a testing browser.

IE9 however is looking good. Issue being MS need to get on a continuous dev cycle with their browsers. IE9 might fit the bill now but give that 6 months when Opera, Chrome and FireFox for example all have another several build revisions under their bonnet, IE9 will be left behind once again.

Would be interesting to see if MS are even considering rolling development for IE9+
3dcandy
Interesting reading, but I'm more interested in IE 5.5 and 6. When the hell are they gonna stop being used?

Not until companies stop insisting that it needs to be used for their products. BT for example require IE6 for some of their management software. :wallbash: