"New study says IE has more than 50 percent of the market."
By Margaret Kane, ZDNN
June 7, 1999 2:52 PM PT
Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer has finally surpassed Netscape Communications Corp.'s Web browsing products, according to a new study.
Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT) browser has 50 percent of the marketplace, according to a study conducted by InfoBeads, a Ziff-Davis Inc. (NYSE:ZD) subsidiary.
The study, which involved interviewing more than 11,000 US PC users and extrapolating the data, found that Internet Explorer was installed on 33.8 million U.S. PCs, compared to 32 million PCs that had either Navigator or Communicator.
That includes users who receive Netscape's browser through America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL), which acquired Netscape earlier this year.
"AOL is still a large proportion [of Internet users] but there's a lot of growth all over the place," said Miran Chun, industry analyst at InfoBeads. "While it's a great base, it's not the only source of growth."
Users have multiple browsers
Another source of browser growth is users who have multiple installations, she said. Many experienced users have more than one browser installed on their system, she said.
According to the study, 19 percent of users who have been on the Internet for five years or more used both Netscape and Microsoft browsers, while less than 10 percent of users with one year or less did.
The numbers may reflect new users' dislike of installing new software, she said. That would seem to increase the importance of getting a browser out in front of new users right away.
from...
zdnet.com |
