Internet Explorer may not be everyone"s favorite browser of choice, but Microsoft may be disheartened to hear that Microsoft"s once-great browser is in further decline. Internet Explorer"s global share of the market (Mobile and desktop browsing) has dropped below 50 percent for the first time. This latest data comes from information received last month. The data comes courtesy of Net Applications and Ars Technica. The pie charts of last month"s desktop browser market share and combined market share are contained below.
Images and data courtesy of: Ars Technica and Net Applications
As shown in the chart above, Internet Explorer still retains 52.63 percent of the market share in desktop browsing. This is still significant, due to the fact that Internet Explorer is pretty much non-existent in the mobile sector, unless you use Windows Phone or Windows Mobile. Microsoft"s browser obtained a majority share in the late 1990s and reached a peak of 95 percent market share in 2004. Ever since then, the browser has been on the decline.
Microsoft has continually tried to revamp the browser since Internet Explorer 7, yet every time they continue to lose market share. Part of the problem seems to be that they cannot push out new features as quickly as Google or Mozilla can. Based on the latest data, Google Chrome seems to be the browser snatching market share from Microsoft, Firefox"s share remained flat in October.