Firefox pulls ahead of Internet Explorer in Europe to become most-used browser

By Chris Hogg

According to StatCounter, Firefox is now the most-used Internet browser in Europe. The Mozilla Web browser has overtaken Internet Explorer (IE) to claim the Web thrown in Europe.

According to the report, Firefox took 38.11% of European market share, compared to IE’s 37.52% in December.

“This is the first time that IE has been dethroned from the number one spot in a major territory,” said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter in a news release. “This appears to be happening because Google’s Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share.”

The report also indicates Google Chrome is in third place but gaining market share rapidly; it grew from 5.06% in December 2009 to 14.58% in December 2010.

“We are probably seeing the impact of the agreement between European Commission competition authorities and Microsoft, to offer EU users a choice and menu of browsers from March last,” said Aodhan Cullen in a statement.

Across the pond in North America, IE is still dominant with 48.92% market share followed by Firefox (26.7%), Chrome (12.82%) and Safari (10.16%).

The numbers are based on aggregate data collected by StatCounter on a sample greater than 15 billion pageviews/month (4.9 billion from North America).