Internet Explorer market share drops below 90 percent in Europe

Chicago (IL) - Mozilla’s Firefox browser continues to steal market share form Microsoft’s Internet Explorer around the globe. According to a report released by a German Internet advertising firm, Firefox has grown to more than 5.5 percent, while the Internet Explorer drops below 90 percent for the first time in years.

Firefox accelerates its pace to make inroads on the Internet Explorer (IE). According to the report from Adtech, shares of all IE versions are retreating. IE 6.x checked in at 79.62 percent or 1.61 percentage points less than at the end of August of this year. Version 5.5 lost in the same time frame 1.21 points and now stands at 5.15 percent while IE 5.x 0.69 points and lists at 4.7 percent.

Since its release Firefox already has grown to be the second most popular web browser in Europe with 5.51 percent at the end of November. The study indicates that the currently adds one percentage point of market share every two weeks. Other Mozilla versions account for 2.5 percent, Opera for 1.01 percent and Netscape for 0.92 percent, according to Adtech.

The firm also noted that Firefox users are less likely to accept online advertising, a likely effect of the browser’s built-in pop-up blocker. While the click rate for IE 5.5 topped the ranking with 0.53 percent, only 0.11 percent of Firefox users who see and ad actually click on it.