Google’s Chrome browser is now well established as the third most popular browser and its ascendency hasn’t stopped yet. Internet Explorer, on the other hand, is clearly in decline.<\/p>\n
Chrome, which Google launched in September 2008, accounted for 6.7% of the browser market at the end of April, as tracked by analyst NetApplications.<\/p>\n
That was a 0.6% increase in its market share over the month, the biggest overall climber of the month and the biggest monthly increase for the browser since it was launched.<\/p>\n
Internet Explorer<\/strong><\/p>\n The most popular browser, Internet Explorer, however, is starting to lose substantial amounts of ground in the browser wars. At the end of April it was down 0.7% at a new all-time-low of 59.95%. Although only marginally under the 60% mark it is a significant position for the browser which has been dominant for so long.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the 0.7% drop was not the largest drop in popularity the browser has suffered recently. Its March drop was almost a full 1% loss. In October 2008 Internet Explorer’s share of the browser market was well over 73%.<\/p>\n Firefox<\/strong><\/p>\n Firefox’s market share has largely stabilised at this time around the 25% point. The browser closed April with a 24.6% share of the browser market, a marginal increase of 0.07% over the month. In November 2009 Firefox’s share was 24.72% and it lost ground to close at 24.23% at the end of February this year.<\/p>\n March and April have been better for the browser with it gaining ground over the past two months.<\/p>\n IE versions<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking at specific versions of Internet Explorer, IE8 continued its strong performance over the course of April, increasing from 23.7% in March to 24.66% at the end of April. Internet Explorer 6 continued its decline, down from 18.41% to 17.58% between March and April. Similarly, IE7 also dropped over the past month, down from 13.16% to 12.5%.<\/p>\n Safari and Opera<\/strong><\/p>\n Apple’s Safari browser continued its upward climb over the course of April, closing at 4.72% at the end of the month. Safari held a 3.79% share of the market in June 2009 and has been climbing steadily over the year.<\/p>\n Opera remained relatively steady over the month, gaining 0.07%. That’s the third month in a row that Opera has increased its share, helping the browser regain some of the ground it lost over the course of November and December last year.<\/p>\n