Microsoft’s newest version of Internet Explorer (IE 9.0) is not yet hitting the mainstream with much success. Currently, according to internet analytics firm Net Applications, Internet Explorer 9.0 is being used by only 3.6 percent of web surfers. This is a significant difference compared to IE 8, which is still running strong, with 51.2 percent of surfers who are using it. Other surfers are using Firefox 3.6 -19.5 percent, and Google Chrome – 15.2 percent. Internet Explorer 9.0 is still slightly ahead of new Firefox 4.0 release however. One reason for IE 9.0 usage being so low is because it only works on Microsoft Windows 7, due to the fact that it relies on the Win 7’s built in DirectX to accelerate many browser functions.
Ryan Gavin, Microsoft's senior director of IE business and marketing, in a phone interview with PCMag.com claimed,” A lot of interesting conversation is going on with respect to browsers these days. There are two simple worldviews: There's spreadsheet and pie chart ogling, and trying to divine some outcome or insight from that," Gavin said. "Second are the conversations with developers, people who build Web sites, and customers on 'how does the Web push forward, and truly become as rich and fast and immersive as a native application?' We made a deliberate bet with IE9, taking advantage of Windows 7 and the hardware."
Currently worldwide Internet Explorer market share is falling. In February all versions of Internet Explorer fell from 56.77 percent to 55.92 percent, while Firefox and Chrome gained market share. However, in the United States, Internet Explorer gained 0.19 percent, for a total US market share of 72.44 percent.
Consider however that Firefox 4.0 had 7 million downloads on the first day of its release, more than double what Internet Explorer 9.0 reached. Microsoft claims, “The adoption rate of IE9 is about five times higher then what we saw for Internet Explorer 8 in the same time frame.” Also, Microsoft has just added pre-release beta and RC installations of IE9 to Windows Update Service, which could impact these results. Microsoft’s IE Blog advises that, “Internet Explorer 9 will not be broadly rolled out on Windows Update until the end of June."