Firefox takes Internet Explorer's crown in Europe

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 05 January 2011 10:32

IT Industry - Market

Microsoft's Internet Explorer is no longer the number one browser in Europe according to a web analytics firm.

According to figures released by Ireland-based web analytics company StatCounter, Firefox usage has nudged ahead of Internet Explorer for the first time. Firefox took 38.11% of European web share in December 2010, compared with 37.52% for Internet Explorer.

"This appears to be happening because Google's Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share," said StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen. Chrome's share was 14.58% in December 2010, compared with 5.06% in December 2009.

However, Firefox has pushed further ahead in the first few days of the New Year: the latest figures are 39.39% to Firefox, 35.54% to Internet Explorer, and 15.13% to Chrome.

"We are probably seeing the impact of the agreement between European Commission competition authorities and Microsoft, to offer EU users a choice and menu of browsers from March last," suggested Cullen.

Worldwide, Internet Explorer still has the largest web share by a considerable margin. In December 2010 it took 46.94%, with Firefox on 30.76% and Chrome on 14.85%.

How did the major browsers fare in 2010? Please read on.