Firefox gains on IE in June

The alternate Web browser bumped its market share to 8.71%

July 14, 2005 (IDG News Service)

The Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser nibbled at Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer market share in June, continuing a consistent monthly trend this year.

Firefox increased its market share to 8.71%, up from 8% in May, while Internet Explorer's share shrank to 86.56% from 87.23%, according to NetApplications.com. Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based NetApplications makes applications for monitoring and measuring Web site usage.

Since the beginning of the year, Firefox has increased its market share every month between 0.5% and 1%, mostly at the expense of Internet Explorer, according to NetApplications.com, which compiles its browser usage data from more than 40,000 Web sites monitored by its HitsLink.com service.

As Firefox approaches the 10% market-share milestone, it's expected to gain "significant traction" once its acceptance grows among corporations, according to NetApplications.com

Rounding out the top five browsers in June were Apple Computer Inc.'s Safari, with 1.93% market share; America Online Inc.'s Netscape, with 1.55%; and Opera Software ASA's Opera, with 0.59%.