There was a time not long ago when Internet Explorer commanded 96% of the browser market, but its numbers have been steadily dropping and now it’s approaching territory that should make Microsoft genuinely worried.
According to online metrics firm Net Applications, Internet Explorer usage fell to a 59.95% share in April.
There’s little that Microsoft can do, as popularity among competing browsers continues to grow. Mozilla’s Firefox, for example, is now edging to reach 25% browser share, and Google’s own browser Chrome took in about 6.7%.
Mobile and full versions of Apple’s Safari browser accounted for nearly 5% of browser activity, and Opera took just over 3%. Every one of those numbers, by the way, from the top four competing IE rivals, is higher than any single competing browser was just a handful of years ago.
WebSideStory, which tracked browser usage from 1999 to 2006, put Internet Explorer’s peak in August of 2002, where it controlled 95.97% of all online browsing. That’s almost incomprehensible now.
