Today’s launch of Firefox 3.5 is the latest shot in the long struggle for domination in the browser market.
The data below – from AT Internet Institute - shows that Firefox has steadily been growing its market share in Europe, mostly at the expense of Internet Explorer. Disappointingly for Microsoft, Internet Explorer’s market share actually dropped in March, coinciding with the long-awaited launch of IE 8.
The same AT Internet research, from April 2009 shows the stark differences in the popularity of Firefox around Europe. Of the five major European economies, the UK shows the lowest penetration of Firefox with 17% market share – compared with 30% in France and 42% in Germany.
This competition is driving some genuine innovation in the browser market, which is great to see. Compare and contrast with the situation around email, where Microsoft is lazily exploiting Outlook’s monopoly position to resist innovation and ignore web standards.
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