Google Chrome Pushes Past Microsoft's Internet Explorer

By Jane McEntegart
published

According to the latest stats, Chrome is King.

Google's Chrome browser is just pushing three and a half years old but already it's surpassed Internet Explorer, which has been around since 1995. According to StatCounter, Google's Chrome browser now accounts for nearly 33 percent of the market, while Internet Explorer sits just behind at a smidgen under 32 percent.

 

StatCounter has just released figures for Week 20 of 2012. The site puts Google's Chrome browser at precisely 32.76 percent market share. This is just a hair ahead of Internet Explorer's 31.94 percent. The Mozilla Foundation's Firefox appears at number three with 25.47 percent. Rounding out the top five are Apple's Safari (7.08 percent) and Opera (1.76 percent).

If you were to look at the same numbers from the same week in 2011, you'd get quite a different picture. Internet Explorer sat in first place, miles ahead of its closest competitor, Firefox. It's market share for Week 20, 2011, was a whopping 43.95 percent. Firefox had 28.18 percent. Google Chrome was in third place with 19.37 percent. This represents significant market share loss for IE, which fell just over 12 percent, while Firefox also fell, losing 2.71 percent compared to last year. The only browser to make it through the year unharmed was Safari, which grew from 5.04 percent to 7.08 percent. Opera fell from 1.83 percent to 1.76 percent.

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Jane McEntegart
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • atmos929
    IE was at the top? :|
    Reply
  • faster23rd
    Well, with the way IE is, it seems like Microsoft has no plans on stiffening up their product's resistance with things like much more meaningful upgrades. I've switched to Chrome after years of loyal patronage to IE and the only thing I feel afterwards is that occasional tug of guilt IE gives me.
    Reply
  • thunderking2106
    This would be a completely different story If Microsoft open sourced IE to where it could be installed on Linux and Mac.
    Reply
  • No it's not. This report is flawed.

    http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404714,00.asp
    Reply
  • silentbobdc
    Never trust a browser chart that doesn't include Netscape Navigator!
    Reply
  • IE has 54 percent of browser usage this month, Firefox is in second place with 20.20 percent and Chrome in third with 18.85 percent
    Reply
  • velocityg4
    FlawedReportNo it's not. This report is flawed.http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404714,00.asp
    This brings to question any accuracy to any of these numbers. It is much more that Firefox and Chrome users spend more time on the internet and view a wider variety of web pages than IE users or vice versa skewing the results greatly. I can attest that the vast majority of households I visit for repairs use IE. Though this leads to it's own incomplete data.

    Most of those with Chrome got it because it was checked by default to install with some other program they bought or downloaded and have no idea how it got there. They don't use it though. That is until I teach them how to and explain why it is better and safer. These people just go to their e-mail from their homepage which is either Yahoo, AOL or their ISP's page. They visit very few other sites.

    I doubt these stat counters take these people into account. This group probably accounts for somewhere between 60% to 80% of people online. Those with very little use for the internet and see it as a daunting and scary place. A place where viruses, hackers lurk in shadows everywhere waiting to strike to steal their money and identity.
    Reply
  • beoza
    velocityg4Most of those with Chrome got it because it was checked by default to install with some other program they bought or downloaded and have no idea how it got there.
    I have to agree with this. Look at when you download Flash player, Divx, Foxit Reader...they all have Chrome included with their program. I have used Chrome for a year and then removed it. I don't like the very spartan look and feel to it. While it has a clean look, somethings can be hard to find and the options are very minimal at best. I use IE 9 for my class work simply because it works with the schools sites I visit, FF with all it's updates is not supported or doesn't display properly. For everything else I use FF. Both FF and IE offer many more options when it comes to controlling their behavior than Chrome does out of the box, although Chrome and FF allow the installation of 3rd party addons.

    I have used the 64bit version of FF and I love it, I just wish they would take it out of the development phase and just release it as a finished version. The only 2 64bit browsers currently (that I know of) are IE9 and FF. Unfortunately I am stuck on a POS 32bit Win 7 Laptop. If FF really wants to gain market share they would include the addblock and a few other popular security addons as part of the standard package. I don't see why it would be hard to make agreements with these addon makers to have their apps included, it would be a big boost to both.
    Reply
  • srap
    beozaI have to agree with this. Look at when you download Flash player, Divx, Foxit Reader...they all have Chrome included with their program. I have used Chrome for a year and then removed it. I don't like the very spartan look and feel to it. While it has a clean look, somethings can be hard to find and the options are very minimal at best. I use IE 9 for my class work simply because it works with the schools sites I visit, FF with all it's updates is not supported or doesn't display properly. For everything else I use FF. Both FF and IE offer many more options when it comes to controlling their behavior than Chrome does out of the box, although Chrome and FF allow the installation of 3rd party addons. I have used the 64bit version of FF and I love it, I just wish they would take it out of the development phase and just release it as a finished version. The only 2 64bit browsers currently (that I know of) are IE9 and FF. Unfortunately I am stuck on a POS 32bit Win 7 Laptop. If FF really wants to gain market share they would include the addblock and a few other popular security addons as part of the standard package. I don't see why it would be hard to make agreements with these addon makers to have their apps included, it would be a big boost to both. - Do not forget the Piriform softwares and Skype, they're also popular.
    - Opera x64 is being worked on, first beta is already out.
    - Including AdBlock Plus would immediately cut them off from the money they got from Google (who gains many of it's money from ads).
    Reply
  • TheBigTroll
    i only use chrome because its simple and faster than IE
    Reply