Internet Explorer 9 beta set for September

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 30 Jul 2010 at 07:28

Microsoft will unveil a beta version of Internet Explorer 9 in September, as the software giant attempts to stage a comeback in the browser market.

The company has already released three technical previews of the next-generation browser, which are little more than a shell demonstrating improvements to the browser engine and its new-found affection for web standards.

What we're going to do from an HTML 5 standard standpoint and where we're going from a speed standpoint, we're really going in a big way in this space

Now the company claims it will be ready to share the browser with the public by the beginning of autumn. "We're really excited about IE9 which will be beta and coming out in September," said Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer at the company's financial analysts meeting.

Turner claims IE8 has already helped Microsoft turn a corner. "Yes, we had a little headwinds, we had several things we had to do with IE8 this past year, but guess what? Per external data in the marketplace, in May and June, we grew share in the browser space for the first time in a very long time."

Indeed, Net Applications figures show that Internet Explorer marginally increased its market share in June, claiming just over 60% of the worldwide browser market. Firefox remains Microsoft's closest competitor with 23% market share.

"The momentum on that has turned and it's a whole new day," Turner added. "And where we're going with IE9 and what we're going to do from an HTML 5 standard standpoint and where we're going from a speed standpoint, we're really going in a big way in this space... and have a great story to tell including around safety and security in the browser space."

Turner didn't announce a release date for the final version browser, although Microsoft took around a year between the launch of the first beta of Internet Explorer 8 and the browser's full release.