Safari Drops, Firefox Gains in March

Safariis Web browser marketshare dipped slightly in March while Firefox showed a gain. Microsoftis Internet Explorer continues the downward slide it started a year ago, according to data from Market Share.

Safari slipped from its high of 4.85 percent in February to 4.51 percent in March. Compared to last year, however, Safari is still up substantially over March 2006is 3.19 percent. Appleis Safari continues to hold the number three slot just has it has since 2005.

Firefox moved from its previous all time high 14.18 percent in February up to a 15.01 percent marketshare March while maintaining its second place position.

Microsoftis Internet Explorer continues to lose ground to Safari and Firefox, and dropped to a new all time low in March with 78.57 percent of the browser market. Internet Explorer dropped below 80 percent in December 2006, and has not been able to recover.

The top three browsers have shown a steady track record over the past two years: Safari and Firefox continue to gain in popularity while Internet Explorer steadily drops. Since Firefox is available for Mac and Windows, many of the defecting IE users are likely switching to the Mozilla-based browser - underscoring a growing distaste for Microsoftis browser.