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Report: IE 9 Hits 12 Percent Usage on Windows 7 Machines
According to NetMarketShare, a Web tracking and analytics service provided by Net Applications, Microsoft's latest version of Internet Explorer finished off May with 12.0 percent of the worldwide browser market.
The numbers are slightly better on Windows 7 machines, with 12.2 percent of global usage. Roger Capriotti, director for Microsoft's Internet Explorer product marketing team, commented in a blog post that the May worldwide market share number represents an increase of 60 percent over April's figure.
Capriotti noted an even stronger finish for IE 9 on Windows 7 in the U.S. market, saying that "in the US, IE9 has now passed 17 percent usage share on Windows 7 as of the last few days in May."
While the increases are good news for Microsoft's newest browser and operating system, IE 9 isn't showing the kind of growth that Google's latest Web browser has demonstrated, according to Net Applications' May data. Google Chrome 11 edged out IE 9 with 14.8 percent of the market. In addition, Chrome 11 had a month-over-month growth increase of 6.9 percent, according to Net Applications' May data. IE 9 is still a relatively new entrant, though, having been released in March.
| Top Browsers on Windows 7 |
Global Market Share (%) |
Internet Explorer 8 |
42.5 |
Chrome 11 |
14.8 |
FireFox 4.0 |
14.0 |
Internet Explorer 9 |
12.0 |
FireFox 3.6 |
8.5 |
Opera 11 |
2.1 |
Source: Net Applications' NetMarketShare |
If all operating systems are considered, IE 9's numbers aren't as strong, with just a 4.2 percent market share. IE 9 is limited to only running on Windows 7- and Windows Vista-based machines. While the numbers show a growth of 0.9 percent over the previous month, IE 9 has a lot of catching up to do to the market leader, Microsoft's own Internet Explorer 8, which continues to head the pack with 31.3 percent use.
Internet Explorer 6 finished second, with10.4 percent of the global browser market, while Mozilla's FireFox 4 finished up in third place with a 10.0 percent share.
| Top Browsers (All OSes) |
Global Market Share (%) |
Internet Explorer 8 |
31.3 |
Internet Explorer 6 |
10.4 |
FireFox 4 |
10.0 |
Chrome 11 |
9.7 |
FireFox 3.6 |
9.1 |
Internet Explorer 7 |
7.0 |
Source: NetMarketShare |