IE market share dips below 50 percent

By Laura Khalil October 6, 2010

Uh oh. In what sounds like dismal news for Microsoft, its once pervasive Web browser, Internet Explorer, has dropped below 50 percent market share.

This is the first time in years that IE has dropped below 50 percent, stats reported by website-traffic information provider StatCounter. This further highlights the growing fragmentation in the browser market.

Once upon a time, in the 1990’s there were just two browsers competing for your affection: Netscape and IE (granted, there were a few smaller players, but their popularity never uprooted these two giants). The end result was Netscape withering into oblivion and IE grabbing 90 percent of the market.

And then, around 2005, Mozilla Firefox began to gain more momentum with its Web browser, and last year, Google’s Chrome was released and also began to take a piece of the pie. Mozilla and Chrome both capitalized on the fact that IE was slow, unresponsive and largely non-compliant with emerging Web standards.

StatCounter Global Stats found that that Microsoft IE fell to 49.87 percent in September followed by Firefox with 31.5 percent. Google’s Chrome has tripled in adoption since September 2009 going from 3.69 percent in September 2009 to 11.54 percent in September this year.

“This is certainly a milestone in the Internet browser wars,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. “Just two years ago IE dominated the worldwide market with 67 percent.”

Part of the dip in IE’s dominance may be due to Microsoft’s December agreement with European regulators to offer a menu of browser choices to Windows users starting last March.

Microsoft may be down, but they’re certainly not out of the game. IE 9 boasts major improvements to speed and compliant with web standards. Both of the features should make the Web browsing experience much more palatable (dare we say, enjoyable) for IE users. Improving web standards within IE isn’t only a bonus to users, but it makes the job of Web developers much easier.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Laura is a tech reporter for Digital Trends, the editor of Dorkbyte and a science blogger for PBS. She's been named one of…

Computing

Trying to buy a GPU in 2023 almost makes me miss the shortage

Two AMD Radeon RX 7000 graphics cards on a pink surface.

The days of the GPU shortage are long over, but somehow, buying a GPU is harder than ever -- and that sentiment has very little to do with stock levels. It's just that there are no obvious candidates when shopping anymore.

In a generation where no single GPU stands out as the single best graphics card, it's hard to jump on board with the latest from AMD and Nvidia. I don't want to see another GPU shortage, but the state of the graphics card market is far from where it should be.
This generation is all over the place

Computing

HP printers are heavily discounted in Best Buy’s flash sale

The HP - OfficeJet Pro 8034e Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer on a desk with a smartphone.

There’s good news in store if you’re looking to land a new printer at a discount this weekend. Best Buy is having a 48-hour flash sale on HP printers, with several that can compete with the best printers seeing some good prices. HP is almost always one of the best laptop brands, and it’s one of the same when it comes to printers. So if you’re looking for a new home or office printer, read onward on how to save on an HP printer at Best Buy.
HP DeskJet 2755e — $60, was $85

The HP DeskJet 2755e is a good entry-level printer. It’s got you covered if your printing needs are pretty basic, or if you don’t need to print in mass. This is a color InkJet printer, which makes it good for almost all uses. It can also make copies and scan in color, and it has mobile and wireless printing functionality. You can get set up quickly and easily with the HP Smart app that guides you through the setup process, and you can also use this app to print, scan and copy documents from your phone.

Computing

This tiny ThinkPad can’t quite keep up with the MacBook Air M2

While the laptop industry continues to move toward 14-inch laptops and larger, the 13-inch laptop remains an important category. One of the best is the Apple MacBook Air M2, with an extremely thin and well-built chassis, great performance, and incredibly long battery life.

Lenovo has recently introduced the third generation of its ThinkPad X1 Nano, one of the lightest laptops we've tested and a good performer as well. It's stiff competition, but which of these two diminutive laptops stands apart?
Specs and configurations