Google’s Chrome browser is on track to become the second most popular web browser after Microsoft’s Internet Explorer within the next few weeks, as IE continues to slide, according to new figures.
IE’s share of users continued to slide in December after a pause in November, the only month of 2011 in which it didn’t lose share, according to Net Applications.
IE lost more than seven percentage points during the course of the year and now stands at 51.9 percent. It could dip below 50 percent by March, Net Applications said.
Chrome gained 8.8 percent share during 2011, according to Net Applications’ figures, which are based on browser usage figures from the 40,000 websites the company monitors.
Microsoft responded that what really matters is IE’s share on Windows 7, where IE8 and IE9 have made a stronger showing.
“As of November, IE9 usage share on Windows 7 worldwide was higher than all versions of Chrome and all versions of Firefox – second only to IE8,” said Roger Capriotti, Microsoft’s head of IE marketing, in a blog post on 30 December. “Based on where the December data currently stands, we’re pleased to say IE9 is still following that trajectory and will soon take the top spot from IE8 on Windows 7, with usage share expected to come in at nearly 25.6 percent this month.”
Microsoft is currently in the midst of an aggressive gamble with IE9. The company did not make the browser compatible with Windows XP, which still has a large market share, and in December announced it would begin automatically upgrading users of older browsers to the newer browser by default.
Chrome already delivers automatic updates and Mozilla has moved towards introducing “silent updates” with its Firefox Update Service.
IE9 currently has 11.5 user share, up 1.2 percent over November, while IE8 holds 27.3 percent. IE7 dropped to 4.8 percent, while IE6 fell to 7.3 percent.
Firefox fell three-tenths of a point in December to 1.9 points, ending at 21.8 percent, while Apple’s Safari browser remained steady at 5 percent and Opera gained one-tenth of a point to reach 1.7 percent.
German foreign minister warns Russia will face consequences for “absolutely intolerable” cyberattack on ruling party,…
Google is reportedly laying off at least 200 staff from its “Core” organisation, including key…
Investor appeasement? Apple unveils huge $110 billion share buyback program, as sales of iPhone decline…
Tesla retreats from pioneering gigacasting manufacturing process, amid cost cutting and challenges at EV giant
No skynet please. After the US, UK and France pledge human only control of nuclear…
Microsoft's AI investments continue in south east Asia, after investments in Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, as…
View Comments
I tried IE9 on Windows 7 and I didn't like the blurred text rendering on my 23 inch TFT monitor so I pulled it and installed Firefox although I do have Chrome installed as a backup but Firefox is the preferred browser here.
IE9 actually runs better on all My Computers compared to Chrome.
I do however use Chrome as My default Browser for 2 reasons.
1 is that its easier because it works better with Googles Services.
2 is because I have been unable to find an AddOn or IE Extension that can handle or save multiple Tabs
Do your research, it's already the most popular browser.
Firefox is just a better browser and better browsing experiance as its a much faster web browser the add ins themes etc you can get for it is just mind blowing also u can regedit Firefox and just tweak the hell outta it so in my humble opinion Firefox web browser is by far a better browser
I don't use Chrome I use SRware Iron as it seems better than Chrome when comparing the two and is quicker for me as well.