The latest data from Net Applications indicates that Internet Explorer lost market share in December to browsers from Mozilla and Apple.
According to the Web metrics provider, Microsoft’s browser market share has declined by more than six percent since February 2008. The browser held a 68.15 percent market share in December — its lowest in years.
By contrast, Mozilla Firefox’s market share rose one-half of a percentage point from November and has climbed more than four percent since February to reach 21.34 percent in December.
“Reaching 20 percent worldwide market share is a significant milestone for Firefox and Mozilla,” said Mozilla CEO John Lilly last month. “It’s a huge achievement by the global Mozilla community, one that just a few years ago most would have considered impossible.”
Mac Users Take Safari
Apple’s Safari browser has also been chipping away at Internet Explorer’s market share for months. Since February, Safari’s market share has grown more than two percent to a 7.93 percent share in December.
However, Safari’s rising market share is almost entirely due to the rising sales of Mac computers, which ship with Safari. According to Net Applications, the Mac operating system’s share of the computer market has risen 2.17 percent since February.
Even Google’s Chrome browser, which debuted in early September, exceeded one percent for the first time in December. Among the world’s top five Web browsers, only Opera appears to be going nowhere. Opera’s market share has hovered around the 0.7 percent mark since February.
Still, Net Applications warned that its reports for November and December should be eyed with caution.
“The December holiday season strongly favored residential over business usage,” said the Aliso Viejo, Calif., firm, which provides applications for Webmasters and e-marketers. “This, in turn, increases the relative usage share of Mac, Firefox, Safari and other products that have relatively high…