Firefox Dethrones Internet Explorer, In Europe Anyways

According to data compiled by web analytics company StatCounter, Firefox bumped Internet Explorer (IE) as the dominant browser in Europe at the end of 2010. According to the numbers compiled by StatCounter's research arm StatCounter Global Stats during December 38.11% of internet page views involved Mozilla's Firefox web browser, while Internet Explorer fell back to second place with 37.52%. Google Chrome made a strong showing coming in third place at 14.58%.

"This is the first time that IE has been dethroned from the number one spot in a major territory," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. "This appears to be happening because Google's Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share."

Google Chrome is gaining market share in Europe which shows with their strong third place ranking. The 14.58% share Google Chrome holds is nearly triple that of 2009 which in comparison was 5.06% in December last year. "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," added Aodhan Cullen.

The news comes on the heels of reports that IE lost 1.4 percentage points of overall usage share in December which accounts for one of the largest one-month decline in more than two years. Chrome was again the prime beneficiary of IE's slide, as Google's browser reached the 10% milestone worldwide for the first time ever. According to Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Net Applications, IE's total share fell to 57.1%, another record low for the Microsoft-made browser. IE has lost 5.6 percentage points in the last 12 months, and 10.7 points since IE8 was introduced in March 2009.