Firefox gaining market share at slower pace

IDG News Service - After an initial surge in market-share gains that followed the release of Firefox 1.0 in November, the pace at which the open-source Web browser is winning market share has slowed, new research shows.
At the same time, Microsoft Corp.'s dominant Internet Explorer browser has dipped below the 90% level in market share, according to two tracking surveys released yesterday.
As of Feb. 18, Firefox held a 5.7% share of the U.S. browser market and Internet Explorer stood at 89.9%, according to San Diego-based Web analytics firm WebSideStory Inc. In November, just before the Firefox 1.0 launch, Internet Explorer held 92.9% of the market, and earlier versions of Firefox held 3.03%, according to WebSideStory.
According to OneStat.com, an Amsterdam-based Web metrics firm, Firefox now holds 8.45% of the browser market on a worldwide basis, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer continues to dominate with an 87.28% share, down 1.62% compared with the end of November.
However, the speed at which Firefox is gaining market share has slowed, WebSideStory said. Firefox's market share has grown 15% over the past five weeks, compared to growth of 22% in the period between Dec. 3 and Jan. 14. From Nov. 5 to Dec.3, right after the Nov. 9 launch of Firefox 1.0, the browser's market share grew 34%, it said.
The initial high adoption rate had Firefox on a path to reach a 10% market share by midyear, according to WebSideStory. With the slower growth, the browser may not reach that milestone until the end of the year, the firm said. That would be in line with goals set by The Mozilla Foundation.
"Growth in Firefox's usage has slowed slightly since its big surge in November. This is probably to be expected as we move beyond the early-adopter segment," WebSideStory CEO Jeff Lunsford said in a statement. "Growing concern over potential security holes in the browser might be another factor to consider."
The Mozilla Foundation, the distributor of Firefox, last week warned of serious security flaws in the browser and released an update (see story). In an about-face two weeks ago, Microsoft said it would release a test version of Internet Explorer 7.0 in mid-2005 (see story). Previously, Microsoft had said it would not offer a browser upgrade until the next version of Windows ships in late 2006.
Both WebSideStory and OneStat.com measure browser market share by tracking which Web browsers are used when certain Web sites are visited.