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| Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 : the battle intensifies |
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| The fight continues between Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2, with a challenger that has a head start. |
| Perimeter: |
- Study carried out from 07/24/06 to 10/29/06
- The whole XiTi perimeter
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| With regards to new versions, the leading browser Internet Explorer has been beaten by its challenger over the last two weeks |
As we observed during our previous study ending on 24 September 2006, IE 7 beta was ahead of Firefox 2 beta in terms of the web visit share generated from France. The same trend was observed over the two weeks between 25 September and 8 October 2006, but developed from week 41 onwards where visits made via Firefox 2 were as high as IE7: 1.3% of total French visits for each beta.
During week 16 to 22 October 2006, Firefox 2 took the lead: 1.5% of visits in France compared with 1.4% for the Internet Explorer 7 browser, taking a considerable leap forward during the week of its official release, between 23 to 29 October 2006: 3.7% of visits (1.7% for IE7). However, the same situation did not occur for the release of the final IE 7 version during week 19 October 2006.
Over the past 14 weeks, the new versions of both browsers have thus advanced at very different rates :
- IE7's share has trebled
- while the share of Firefox 2 has multiplied by 14!
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| The final version of Firefox 2 achieved a better response than Internet Explorer 7 upon the announcement of its release |
During the week of its official release, Firefox 2 achieved twice as many visits than Internet Explorer 7. Over week 23 to 29 October 2006, 79% of web visits made from Internet Explorer or Firefox (including all versions) can be attributed to the market leader. On the other hand, looking only at visits using the new versions, only 31.2% came from Internet Explorer: Almost 70% of visits made using the two new competing versions can thus be attributed to Firefox (week 18 to 24 September 2006: 41.6%).
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By way of comparison, here is the same graph for week 18 to 24 September 2006, published in our previous study :
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It is clear from the graph below that the rise in visits using Firefox 2 was already occurring two days before its official release on 25 October 2006, with this trend continuing over the following days. On Sunday 29 October 2006, visits made from Firefox 2 in France were almost 3.5 times higher than Sunday 22 October 2006.
In comparison, the official release of Internet Explorer 7 on 19 October 2006 did not lead to a marked increase in visits over the following days.
Although its beta version was made available later, Firefox 2 has nevertheless gained proportionally more ground more quickly than Internet Explorer 7 beta. The official release of both competing versions confirms this trend.
However, we can assume that the considerable lead that Firefox 2 has today can be largely explained by the fact that its users are savvier and more responsive to new web developments than the average web surfer in France...
Will the rise in Firefox 2's popularity eventually stagnate faced with a new version of IE7 gaining ground more slowly but surely? Or will the behaviour of French web surfers change significantly?
This evolution will be monitored closely on XiTI Monitor over the coming months...
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Methodology :
Study weeks:
W30: 24 to 30 July 2006
W31: 31 July to 6 August 2006
W32: 7 to 13 August 2006
W33: 14 to 20 August 2006
W34: 21 to 27 August 2006
W35: 28 August to 3 September 2006
W36: 4 to 10 September 2006
W37: 11 to 17 September 2006
W38: 18 to 24 September 2006
W39: 25 September to 1st October 2006
W40: 2 to 8 October 2006
W41: 9 to 15 October 2006
W42: 16 to 22 October 2006
W43: 23 to 29 October 2006
Only web visits from France are taken into account in this study.
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