Microsoft loses ground in battle of the browsers

Things are hotting up in the browser wars as Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7.0 loses the top spot to Mozilla's Firefox v 3.0 in the latest European rankings.

Popularity for Internet Explorer, Microsoft's web browser fell to an all time low last month, according to the latest audience figures published by web analytics firm StatCounter.
Statistics gathered for March 2009 reveal that the world market share for Internet Explorer (IE) dropped to 64% compared with 28% for its main rival, Firefox, which is published by the Mozilla foundation.

Firefox 3 overtakes IE7 in Europe

In the same month, Firefox 3.0 became the most used web browser in Europe as it overtook Internet Explorer 7.0 for the first time ever. Week 13 figures (23rd – 29th March 2009) show that Firefox 3.0 took 35.09% of the European web browser market followed by 34.51% for IE 7.0.

Despite this landmark result, Microsoft retained overall dominance in the European market with all versions of IE representing 48.84% compared to just 38.85% for Mozilla products.

Aodhan Cullen, CEO and founder of StatCounter, commented: "The move is partly explained by a small switch from IE 7.0 usage to IE 8.0 but also by growing market share overall by Firefox 3.0. The data shows that Firefox is closing the gap and is now just 10% behind all IE versions in Europe."

Heat from Brussels will not help Microsoft cause

The landscape was very different five years ago when Internet Explorer commanded almost 90% of the world market but, despite the recent release of IE 8.0, Microsoft will struggle to halt the decline of its browser especially since this has become the focus of new antitrust investigations in Brussels.

In fact, the European Union is considering forcing Microsoft to distribute rival browsers as part of its Windows packages in a bid to encourage competition and increase consumer choice. The outcome of this enquiry could force the American software giant to make Internet Explorer 8.0 optional in Windows 7.