LONDON – Mozilla's web browser Firefox 3.0 has snuck past Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser in Europe, but only by a single percentage point.
According to the latest report from StatCounter Firefox 3 had 35 percent of the market compared to IE7's 34 percent.
But Microsoft browers still rule the roost overall. The new IE8 claims a 2.3 percent market share since its mid-March release, while could account for the IE7 slip. Plus, some users will run the older IE6 as well.
"The move is partly explained by a small switch from IE 7.0 usage to IE 8.0 but also by growing market share overall by Firefox 3.0," said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen, according to The Register. "The data shows that Firefox is closing the gap and is now just 10 percent behind all IE versions in Europe."
The study is based on aggregate data from their StatCounter's network of users. Overall, Internet Explorer claim48 percent of the market share, while Firebox browsers account for 38 percent. Coming in third place is Opera with seven per cent share and Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome were at less than 3 percent.
