Firefox loses market share
Published: 15 Aug 2005 17:05 BST
Microsoft's Internet Explorer has clawed back some market share from Mozilla's Firefox, according to latest figures.
Web application provider NetApplications said on Friday that the open source browser's market share fell from 8.71 percent in June to 8.07 percent in July. IE's share grew from 86.56 percent to 87.2 over the same period. NetApplications said this is the first time that Firefox has faltered in its rise against IE since its launch last year.
W3Schools.com, a Web development tutorial site, has also recorded a drop in the proportion of its visitors using Firefox over recent months, from a peak of 21.0 percent in May to 19.8 percent in July. The combined market share of IE 5 and 6 increased from 71.4 in April to 73.8 in July.
Over the last year, Firefox' market share has increased significantly, with Web analytics firm OneStat.com reporting that it quadrupled its market share between May 2004 and April 2005, and WebSideStory reporting that it doubled its user base in the US between June 2004 to April 2005.
The drop in Firefox' market share could be an anomaly, or could indicate that some users have switched back to IE. Over the last couple of months, developers have patched a number of security flaws in the open source browser and in Greasemonkey, a third-party extension for the browser.
It is possible that these and earlier security flaws have damaged the open source browser's reputation, although there have also been several IE security flaws over this period, including a flaw in the way IE handles JPEGs and a bug that could allow arbitrary code execution.
Microsoft plans a number of security improvements in IE 7. But as this browser will not be available to users of Windows 2000, the Mozilla Foundation has predicted that it will see a surge in interest in Firefox once IE 7 is launched.
Did you find this article useful?
127 out of 241 people found this useful
- Share this article:
Full Talkback thread
31 comments
-
This is complete and utter rubbish. Firefox is kil... Anna Rovita -
Anna,
Why so emotional? I think your reaction... Anonymous -
My honest opinion.
I tried switching complete... Anonymous
-
I dont know what in the world could make me g... Yax
-
A couple of people have mentioned sites... Brendan Dodds -
I have myself started using IE more on my home pc... Anonymous
-
I started using FireFox since it was first av... Anonymous
-
Once you have tried firefox you will be... Rich Tores
-
I'm developing a website - nothing... Mitch 74
-
Netscape 8 has been released over this period. It... Anonymous
-
A couple of things;
1. Netscape 8 came out
2. Dee... Anonymous
-
Do not know about others, but I am still using Fir... Sudhakar
-
There'a a lot to like about Firefox, but there are... Anonymous
-
big problems with last few updated firefox browser... Dc s
-
Firefox allows blocking of non-content websites.
T... Anonymous
-
I don't want UK sites on my browsers, IE or F... DH
-
Not true Anonymous
-
There's a lot of comment here about folks hav... Anonymous
-
Blah blah blah...all this techy bs....wh... Anonymous
-
Cannot believe it, when we are getting a barrage o... Anonymous
-
There's a lot to like about Firefox - tabbed... Anonymous
-
Something smells here. Memory problems with Firef... irene B
-
Kind of amused at people who consider "going... herman
-
Hey, comments with NO log in... something smells h... Pedro Rosa
-
Students are away for the summer and are often for... Anonymous
-
So far I've been quite capable of finding alternat... Arthur B.
-
Someone recently said Firefox behaves "strangely".... No More IE!!!
-
As long as there are people who code their web pag... Anonymous
-
don't forget that Opera identifies itself as IE6 b... Anonymous
-
I use ff almost 100%...every once in a while somet... Anonymous
-
I've been using FF since the beta of 0.9. Ye... John Newton
