Firefox struggling to top 25 per cent share of browser market

Firefox may never top 25 per cent of the global web browser market, if new statistics are indicative of longer term trends.

Firefox has been on a decline over the last three months, while Google Chrome continues to grow in terms of overall market share, being the only browser to show a positive growth last month.

Europe gets browser choice

The latest data from web analytics firm Net Applications shows that between January and February this year, Microsoft's Internet Explorer dropped 0.60 percentage points and Firefox slipped 0.18 percentage points, while Chrome increased by 0.41 percentage points to 5.61 percent of the market.

It is the first time that Firefox's share of the browser market has fallen three months in a row. However, the trend could well be reversed, and it should be pointed out that the cumulative drop over the last three months in Firefox's market share is still slightly under a full percentage point.

Microsoft has been forced to roll out the browser ballot in the EU, this month, so it will be interesting to see how browser use in Europe changes over the coming months and years, as those users who were perhaps previously unaware of even having a choice in the matter are now presented with one.