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Less than 30% of Geeks Using IE When Visiting GBM

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According to a Network Applications report, Internet Explorer’s popularity’s at 10 year low. Less than 60% of web users are choosing to surf with IE and more than 40% are opting for alternatives such as Firefox, Chrome and Safari. The share of GBM readers visiting this site with IE is falling pretty quickly.Based on our web statistics here at GBM, I wouldn’t be surprised to see IE’s market share to fall much further.

GBM Visitors April 2009

As of April of 2009, 37.23% of GBM visitors used Internet Explorer, while 44.95% used Firefox. By April 2009, usage of IE dropped by a quarter down to just 28.47%. If the trend continues, we’ll have less than 15% of our visitors using IE by this time next year.

Firefox usage dipped slightly last month compared to a year ago, while Chrome and Safari usage more than doubled.

The biggest surprise to me when I pulled the above stats from Google Analytics this morning was how popular Safari and Chrome has become with our visitors. Combined, these two WebKit browsers make up just over 30% of the pie. We have been covering the iPad and other Apple products quite a bit, so it’s pretty natural to attract more Mac users. More than two thirds of our visitors using Apple products stick with Safari, the default browser on MacBooks, iPhones and iPads. In contrast, more than 70% of GBM’s visitors that run Windows are choosing an alternative to the default browser.

I split most of my browsing time being Firefox and Chrome. I’m increasingly relying on Chrome on both my PCs and MacBook Pro as I find it more reliable and less resource intensive than Firefox.

If you’re reading this, there’s a 71.53% chance that you’re not using Internet Explorer right now. Why not? What prompted you to use Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Opera?

9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Charles

    05/04/2010 at 11:24 am

    Of course we aren’t using IE. . . we know how to install software on our computers lol

    • Xavier Lanier

      05/04/2010 at 11:40 am

      I sure hope so, but as the data shows- more and more GBM readers are actually doing so.

  2. smh

    05/04/2010 at 11:45 am

    I think that it is sad that so many are against IE. I was fortunate enough to experience the lousy internet connections and even more horrendous browsers of the 90′. If IE had not been distributed so aggressively by MS then most of the current internet development would have been postponed many years. Yes, IE is not the best browser – but it is the one known and used by the highest percentage of the population.

    For job-related tasks i use IE, Opera is only used when i’m at home browsing for “fun”. No matter how much IE is discredited on the web, it is courious that a coup d’état has not happened and is very unlikely to happen.

  3. CLC

    05/04/2010 at 12:02 pm

    I don’t use IE because the interface is cluttered. I haven’t found it to be any slower than Firefox; but, then again, I have never used IE extensively.
    I used to use Firefox; but I found that, when I left my tabs open, it would slowly eat up more and more memory. I switched to Opera for a while; but that one wasn’t terribly fast; and the interface was still lacking. So, when Chrome came out, I switched over and saw an immediate speed improvement that has only gotten better over time, as well the maximized screen real estate. (Safari has a similar layout; but I hate using Safari because of the lack of support sites have for Safari and because it seems slower to me in starting up and loading pages.) I don’t install too many extensions because I value speed more than anything.

    Still, IE is an indispensable part of my arsenal because there are some sites and features that are only compatible in IE.

  4. SAM

    05/04/2010 at 1:00 pm

    Doesn’t anybody still use Netscape…LOL

  5. tvu732

    05/04/2010 at 2:51 pm

    I’m using Opera because of its excellent (and simple) UI. I don’t really care about speed.

  6. Ben

    05/04/2010 at 5:03 pm

    I got hooked on FireFox’s add-ons, specifically “Rikai-chan” which is incredible for Japanese sites. I also love the RTM plugin for gmail on FF (I hate the gmail RTM widget). There’s also Grab and Drag.

    If those 3 were on Chrome, I’d probably switch over to Chrome.

  7. GoodThings2Life

    05/04/2010 at 8:09 pm

    I’m a Firefox user, but as a web developer, I keep IE and Chrome handy for testing. I also use IE for several business web apps and management tools that require it.

    I’m a Microsoft guy, and I like IE. I just like a few of my Firefox only plugins (AdBlock and Feed Sidebar) better.

  8. Sara

    05/09/2010 at 10:41 am

    I use elinks (text browser) and surf, a Linux Webkit browser, to browse GBM. I wonder where they fit in in the pie chart.

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