Internet Pro News

Firefox Growth Slowing

By Chris Richardson
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2005-02-28

An analysis done by WebSideStory found that since its meteoric rise, the Firefox browser's growth has slowed recently.

WebSide's Data Spotlight, which focuses on how different technologies are performing, found Firefox's growth, which was previously around a 22% rate, has slowed to 15%. The latest measurement was conducted between 1-14-05 until 2-18-05. WebSideStory CEO Jeff Lunsford offered these thoughts about Firefox's slowdown�

"According to a recent report by the Mozilla Foundation, there have been 25 million downloads of the Firefox browser in the last 100 days. The download numbers continue to impress us and the mainstream press. We track usage rather than downloads, however, and are seeing that the growth in Firefox's usage has slowed since its big surge in November. This is probably to be expected as we move beyond the early adopter segment. Back in December 2004, it seemed Firefox was a lock to reach 10 percent by mid-2005, ahead of the reported year end goal of the Mozilla Foundation. Given the latest growth rates, the year end target still appears attainable, but a mid-year achievement is unlikely unless we see increased marketing activity from the Mozilla Foundation."

The following are tables provided by WebSideStory detailing Firefox's growth over applicable operating systems:

U.S. Browser Usage Share - All OS:

Browser	2/18/05	1/14/05	12/3/04	11/5/04	6/4/04
Internet Explorer	89.85%	90.28%	91.80%	92.89	95.48%
Firefox	5.69%	4.95%	4.06%	3.03%	*3.53%
Non-Firefox Netscape and Mozilla browsers	2.47%	2.64%	2.83%	2.95%
Other	1.9%	**2.06%	1.25%	1.07%	0.95%

U.S. Browser Usage Share - Windows Only:

Browser	2/18/05	1/14/05	12/3/04	11/5/04	6/4/04
Internet Explorer	92.2%	92.72%	93.44%	94.29%	96.69%
Firefox	5.47%	4.78%	3.90%	2.94%	*3.05%
Non-Firefox Netscape and Mozilla browsers	2.09%	2.24%	2.38%	2.51%
Opera	0.18%	0.19%	0.21%	0.22%	0.20%

About the Author:
Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.