The European Commission's browser choice mandate has sent Microsoft's Internet Explorer market share below the 50 percent mark globally for the first time, according to StatCounter.
The European Commission's browser choice mandate has sent IE below 50 percent in market share. Screenshot: Statcounter
StatCounter found that Internet Explorer (IE) market share fell to 49.87 percent worldwide in September. Firefox ended the month with 31.5 percent market share. Google's Chrome browser surged to 11.54 percent, up from 3.69 percent in September 2009.
StatCounter said that IE's fall in global market share had a lot to do with the European Commission mandating browser choice. In Europe, IE's market share is 40.26 percent, down from 46.44 percent a year ago. In North America, IE has a 52.3 percent market share, followed by Firefox at 27.21 percent and Chrome at 9.87 percent.
Net Applications, however, has IE at 60 percent market share.
This ZDNet UK-selected story originally appeared as EU dings Microsoft's IE browser market share, says Statcounter on ZDNet.com.