Chrome overtakes IE for the month

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 1 Jun 2012 at 10:19

Chrome has pipped IE to become the most used web browser this month, according to one stats firm.

Chrome held 32.43% of the global market, according to StatCounter, topping Internet Explorer's 32.12% and Firefox's 25.55%. Chrome overtook IE for a single day in March, and a full week earlier this month.

While debate continues about the accuracy of such statistics, the milestone highlights the success of Google's browser, first launched in 2008.

This month's win isn't entirely down to Chrome's growth, however - Firefox gainied 0.6% between April and May, at the "expense of IE", said Aodhan Cullen, CEO of StatCounter.

“While attention has recently been focused on the battle between Chrome and IE, not-for-profit Mozilla's Firefox with its loyal membership base should not be underestimated,” said Cullen.

IE remains the most used browser in the UK and the US, with Chrome winning users in growing markets such as Russia, India and South America.

Browser stats differ widely depending on each company's counting techniques. Rival stats firm Net Applications ranks IE first with 54.05%, followed by Firefox on 19.71% and Chrome on 19.58% - putting Chrome's browser in striking distance of overtaking Firefox next month.

StatCounter has previously been criticised for counting pages preloaded by Chrome but never seen by users, but removed such prerendering stats at the beginning of the month.