Safari Gained, IE Lost In 2005

by , 8:25 AM EST, January 2nd, 2006

Internet Explorer may still have the lion's share of the Web browser market, but it continually lost users throughout 2005, while Safari steadily gained and maintained its number three position. According to statistics from Market Share, Safari continued its upward climb finishing the year with a 3.07 percent market share, nearly double the 1.66 percent it held in January.

In contrast, Internet Explorer steadily lost market share in 2005. It started the year with 89.44 percent of the browser market, and finished the year with 85.05 percent.The number two browser was Firefox, with an up-and-down share that started at 5.59 percent, and finished up at 9.57 percent.

Browser Market Share 2005
Internet Explorer 85.05%
Firefox 9.57%
Safari 3.07%
Netscape 1.24%
Opera 0.55%
Mozilla 0.41%
Blazer 0.01%
Konqueror 0.01%
PSP Internet Browser 0.01%
Other 0.08%

Safari is the only single-platform browser with any significant market share. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Netscape are all available in Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows versions.