Microsoft sees Internet Explorer market share grow

Microsoft's web browser has regained 60 per cent of the browser market, with its share returning to growth in June.

The latest Net Applications figures see Internet Explorer used by 60.3 per cent of web users globally, up from May's 59.8 per cent.

Better still for Microsoft is the news that IE's extra users appear to have defected from its nearest rival Firefox, with Mozilla's browser having dropped half a per cent to dip under the 24 per cent mark for the first time since September 2009. Google Chrome consolidated its third place.

Net Applications suggests the upswing is the result of a Microsoft marketing campaign promoting IE8, the latest version of the browser. On a regional level, Europe (0.88 per cent increase) and Asia (0.81 per cent) saw the biggest response.

Microsoft marked the occasion with a celebratory blog post from IE business and marketing senior director Ryan Gavin, who singled out IE 8 for special praise.

"[Last month] Internet Explorer 8 saw solid share growth, growing faster than Google Chrome, continuing the trend of being the fastest growing browser," Gavin wrote.

"Today, Net Applications released their usage share numbers for June and the positive news continues. Internet Explorer 8 continues to be the fastest growing browser with a 0.66 per cent increase in share, more than three times the growth of Google Chrome, while Firefox's share declined."

Microsoft's hold on the web browser market has been in decline for several years, as first Firefox and more recently Chrome emerged as credible alternatives. Nearly four out of five web users had IE as their default browser just two years ago, but that number has been falling steadily apart from a brief rally last summer.

Behind the top two, Chrome continues to gain ground, and now holds a 7.24 per cent stake in the global browser market. Two thirds of that share has materialised in the past 12 months, and Google will be further encouraged to see Firefox struggling. The gap between the two remains a formidable 16.5 per cent, but that is down from 20 per cent just six months ago.