I remember well, back in 1996 when Netscape’s browser share was in the 80 percent plus range. Back then IE 3 (and then later versions) were the underdog.
We all know what happened next.
But flash forward 14 years and it looks like for the first time, Netscape’s successor – the open source Mozilla Firefox browser – may have just retaken the browser share crown, kinda/sorta.
According to analytics vendor StatCounter, for the month of December 2010 for European browser share, Firefox came in at 38.11 percent while IE came in second at 37.52 percent.
“This is the first time that IE has been dethroned from the number one spot in a major territory,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter in a statement. “This appears to be happening because Google’s Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share.”
StatCounter’s analysis in my view is flawed.
In my personal view, the decline of IE in Europe has everything to do with the Browser Ballot choice screen that European Windows users get.
