The Browser Wars of 2005
Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) remains the largest stakeholder in browser market share, but it lost ground in 2005. Web browser statistics for yearend 2005 released by NetApplications.com indicate movement in browser market share for 2006.
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Mozilla's Firefox gained market share in the first quarter; showed signs of slowing adoption during the second quarter, and picked up the pace to finish 2005 with a 9.57 percent market share. That's up from the 4.64 percent footprint it held at the close of 2004.
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Netscape was the only browser besides IE to lose market share in 2005. Firefox's predecessor dropped to 1.24 percent usership from 2.07 percent in 2004. The browser went from ranking third to fourth.
The Opera browser closed both 2004 and 2005 with the same half percent market share despite major changes to its business model. In 2004, users could choose from a free, ad-supported browser and premium browser. In 2005, Opera went to a completely free ad-supported browser. The report finds Opera's strength in its installed base of handheld devices and sees the browser gaining strength when the platform takes off.
NetApplications collects data on browser usage at the ISP level.
