Internet Explorer’s share of the worldwide browser market has dropped below 50 per cent, according to new data.
According to StatCounter findings, in September, the Microsoft browser’s market share was 49.87 per cent – down from 58 per cent this time last year.
It has even dropped to 40 per cent in Europe, yet IE still narrowly dominates the market in North America at 52.3 per cent.
This fall has been coupled with a rise in both Firefox (31.5 per cent) and Google Chrome (11.54 per cent). Chrome has jumped from 3.63 per cent this time last year.
The figures come from StatCounter from data it collects from over three million websites and over 15 billion page views each month.
Aodhan Cullen, chief executive officer at StatCounter, said: “This is certainly a milestone in the internet browser wars. Just two years ago IE dominated the worldwide market with 67 per cent.”
Microsoft agreed with the European Commission competition authorities in February that it would offer EU surfers a choice of browsers and Cullen attributes part of the recent fall to this.
