Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 Helps Microsoft Regain Browser Market Share

The browser wars continues, with browsers being updated and upgraded for the new operating systems as well as made available on older ones. This was the case with the Internet Explorer (IE) 10 released for the Windows 7 platform. Originally designed for Windows 8, Microsoft eventually decided to release it for the older version of their operating system as well. A month has gone by since it was made available, along with Google Chrome 26 and Mozilla Firefox 20. A look at the numbers for each browser clearly show which browser is winning.

In April 2013, Firefox, Safari and Opera were the browsers that slipped. Safari fell by around 0.5%,and Opera by 0.16%. The decline in Firefox’s market share was over 0.8%. On the other hand, IE and Chrome both gained a few percentage points. At the end of April, the market share for the leading browsers was:

• Google Chrome – 39.15%
• Internet Explorer – 29.71%
• Mozilla Firefox – 20.06%
• Safari – 8%
• Opera – 1.01%

This is particularly interesting for Internet Explorer. The browser is no longer the force it once was with people usually preferring Firefox or Chrome over it. This was what made it difficult to predict how the release of IE10 on Windows 7 would impact the browser’s market share.

Talking about IE10 specifically, the browser did get a boost from its release on Windows 7. Its market share nearly tripled, reaching 6.20% while having been at 2.26% at the end of March. This adversely affected IE9, which fell by 2.45%. What is interesting to note is that at 13.35%, the market share of IE9 is solid but the fall it experienced is it’s biggest for some time. It still remains the second-most widely used browser version across the world after Chrome 26, which is at 32.13%.

Overall, this shows that IE10 is taking users away from IE9 rather than convincing more people to switch from Chrome or Firefox to IE. Since XP users don’t have the option of moving beyond IE8, this impact is mainly felt by Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. Like IE, Firefox also had released a new version of the browser, Firefox 20. Firefox 20 managed to capture a 9.47% market share in just the first month of its release, which shows that it is in more demand than the latest IE version.

Firefox 20 was the only version of the browser to gain, naturally since it was in its first month. For some reason, Firefox 16 actually managed to improve its market share. The biggest loser was Firefox 19 which lost nearly 10% of its market share. When it comes to Chrome, version 25 was naturally the one that

lost the most market share as it was number one before Chrome 26 came along. Its market share was over 32% but it stood at less than 2% at the end of April. What this shows is that even if IE10 is becoming more popular after being launched on Windows 7, it is doing little to regain popularity for what was once the world’s favorite browser. Chrome and Firefox have become more popular and in demand than Internet Explorer, which effectively means that IE islosing the browser war.

[Image via digitaltrends]