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Microsoft Takes Another Net Step Backwards As Global IE Share Drops To New Low (MSFT)

Ballmerhands.jpgWhen you consider that Microsoft owned the browser market five years ago, IE's continued share erosion is a watershed event for Microsoft and the rest of the technology industry.  Slowly but surely, the rise of the Internet is cracking the Windows monopoly apart, and as it does, Microsoft's relative power is likely to continue to wane.

There are still those who say confidently that Microsoft's domination of the Internet is just a matter of time: Microsoft came from behind in word processors, spreadsheets, email, etc., and thanks to its tenacity and riches, it will come from behind here.

No, it won't.

Thirteen years after entering the Internet industry, Microsoft is still running a distant third in the Internet game, despite having more advantages that any industry participant could ever dream of.  Its share of ads is now increasing, but only because it is losing billions while even AOL continues to print money.  Its share of the browser market, meanwhile, continues to decrease, a trend that to our knowledge has never happened in a market Microsoft wanted to dominate.  If nothing else, this should alert those who regard Microsoft's Internet domination as a foregone conclusion that they might want to rethink things.

Browser market share from November, from Net Applications (via Fudzilla):

Firefox Share Tops 20% for November

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For the first time since we began tracking, the Firefox browser has exceeded 20% share for a full month.  Mozilla's CEO, John Lilly, gives credit to the Mozilla community and shared his thoughts with us on this accomplishment:

"Reaching 20 percent worldwide market share is a significant milestone for Firefox and Mozilla.  It's a huge achievement by the global Mozilla community, one that just a few years ago most would have considered impossible.  The open web is more vibrant than ever, and the thousands of Mozilla contributors around the world have played a major role in making it that way."

Firefox share jumped about eight tenths of a percent in November, which is much higher than average.  Why the big jump?  In addition to the steady gains Firefox has shown over the years, our analysis shows four other major reasons:

  • First, the U.S. election.  Firefox usage share increased significantly in the days surrounding November 4th (especially in some non-U.S. countries, like Japan), then held roughly steady until:
  • Second, the Thanksgiving holiday.  Firefox share jumped starting on Wednesday the 26th until the end of the month.
  • Third, extra weekend days.  The average 30-day month has 8.57 weekend days.  November had 10.
  • Fourth, higher unemployment. With an increase in unemployment, a higher than typical percentage of people are browsing from home than the office

All four reasons increase Firefox share since Firefox has a much larger residential share than corporate share (to be detailed in a future analysis).  So, all the above factors led to increased residential browsing and a higher Firefox share.

Even considering these factors, Firefox's share trend is pointing to above 20% share for December and beyond.

For these and other Global Market Share Statistics, go to marketshare.hitslink.com.

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See Also: Microsoft's Real Problem: The Second Coming of Apple

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