IE Growth Hurts Firefox and Chrome, Back over 60% Market Share

Not only is Internet Explorer 9 enjoying an excellent reception indicating clear skies ahead for the evolution of IE overall, but Microsoft’s browser managed to reverse its downward trajectory on the browser market worldwide. Furthermore, Internet Explorer did so to the detriment of Firefox and Chrome. Statistics released by Internet metrics company Net Applications reveal that IE grabbed market share in June 2010 after a years-long slide, at the expense of its direct rivals. IE is now back over the 60% browser market share mark, having fallen under it back in March 2010.

“Last month we saw some encouraging news about browser preference. Internet Explorer 8 saw solid share growth, growing faster than Google Chrome, continuing the trend of being the fastest growing browser. In addition, we saw Internet Explorer share decline by the smallest amount in more than a year,” noted Ryan Gavin, Senior Director, Internet Explorer Business and Marketing.

Between May and June 2010, Internet Explorer 8 grew from 25.18% to 25.84%, taking the entire market share slice of IE from 59.75% back over 60%, to no less than 60.32%. Meanwhile Firefox dropped from 24.32% to 23.81%, while Chrome grew only modestly from 7.04% to 7.24%. Opera also lost market share, finishing with just 2.27% at the end of June, after it accounted for 2.43% in May.

“In June, Net Applications shows overall Internet Explorer share growing by 0.57% worldwide. Internet Explorer 8 share continues to be the fastest growing browser with a 0.66% increase in share, more than 3 times the growth of Google Chrome, while Firefox share declined. These numbers are especially interesting when you consider that IE users in Europe have been offered the Browser Choice Screen. As the Net App share results demonstrate, IE usage share gained .88% just in Europe this month, as customers continue to choose IE8 above the alternatives. Additionally, IE grew .81% in Asia and .12% in the US with IE8 growing 1.22% to over 40% of usage share in the US,” Gavin added.

Microsoft is currently working on the next generation of IE, dubbed IE9, which the company is offering to early adopters and to developers for testing. With the successor of IE8, the Redmond company has made it clear that it is working to deliver a superior browser to Firefox, Chrome, Opera etc. “Usage share is simply one of several ways we evaluate our progress with IE. We certainly don’t judge our business on just two months of data but the direction here is encouraging,” Gavin said.

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) is available for download here.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 3 Build 1.9.7.8.74.6000 is available for download here.

Firefox 3.7 Alpha 5 for Windows is available for download here.

Google Chrome 6.0.447.0 is available for download here.

Opera 10.60 Final is available for download here.

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