Internet Explorer 8 was launched on 19/03/2009 and according to Net Market Share, has quietly, yet quickly ascended to over 3% usage market share.

I say ‘quietly’ because curiously, Microsoft has not actively promoted the new browser.

Browsers have been released by different companies using different marketing tactics. Google introduced Chrome through a ‘leaked’ report, and followed up with almost no marketing. It almost instantly jumped to 1% usage market share, but it has now been 7 months since the launch and its current market share is just 1.23%.

Mozilla, in contrast, has taken browser feature development and marketing to levels unseen before. Firefox has a loyal and growing following. Upgrades are seamless and well marketed. And, the results have been impressive, with a sustained growth in usage market share currently at 22.05%.

Apple’s Safari has also been growing in usage share steadily, currently at 8.23%. But, that growth has come more from the growth in Mac and iPhone usage than from people switching browsers on the same hardware.

So, it’s curious that Microsoft isn’t taking the Mozilla approach by announcing IE8 with hype and fanfare. That said, IE8 has still gotten off to an impressive start. But, time will tell whether the gains by IE8 come from older versions of Internet Explorer, or if Microsoft can regain some of the lost market share, taken by Mozilla and Apple.

For these and other Net Market Share Statistics, go to netmarketshare.com.

You may also be interested in viewing my blog post “Why Web Browser Compatibility Is Important“.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 17:25 and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.