The browser wars continue to rage on between Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, Apple and others to get you to use their platform to consume content from the web. While the reasoning may not be obvious upfront as all the browsers are free, the idea is that by owning the browser, you have a better chance of controlling the default search behavior which is a revenue generating process for all involved.
For the month of June, according to Net Applications, Internet Explorer held 58.38% of the worldwide market with Chrome taking 19.34% and Firefox finishing out the top three at 15.54%. Internet Explorer growth remained more or less flat for June but Chrome jumped 1.61% and Firefox fell by 1.27%.
By looking at the chart above, you can see that IE's market share has remained relatively stable since August of 2013, but Chrome has been showing solid gains while Firefox has been consistently dropping. It would seem, based on this chart, that Chrome is attracting most of its new users from Firefox and Opera, rather than Internet Explorer.
For Microsoft, while a lack of growth is not what they want to see, they are still holding steady in the face of strong competition from Google which is a good thing. Over the past year or so, Microsoft has been creating web based demos that show the power of the browser, highlighting IE's ability to handle modern web standards. Of course, the demos did work in Chrome and Firefox too.
Going forward, the browser will become more integral to all aspects of our lives, so for Microsoft, Google and the other browser vendors, having a large slice of the market share pie will pay big dividends down the road.
Source: Net Applications
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