After an initial rush in market share gain that followed the discharge ofFirefox1.0 in November , the rate at which the open - reference WWW web web browser is come through market percentage has slow down down , new research shows .

At the same prison term , Microsoft Corp. ’s dominant Internet Explorer ( IE ) browser app has dipped below the 90 percent level in food market share , allot to two trailing survey released on Monday .

As of Feb. 18 , Firefox held a 5.7 percent share of the U.S. web web browser securities industry and IE stood at 89.9 percent , according to San Diego - based Web analytics firm WebSideStory Inc. In November , right before the Firefox 1.0 launch , IE maintain 92.9 percent of the market and earlier versions of Firefox held 3.03 percent , according toWebSideStory .

harmonize to OneStat.com , an Amsterdam - based Web metrics firm , Firefox now holds 8.45 pct of the browser app market on a world-wide basis , while Microsoft ’s IE continues to command with an 87.28 percent part , down 1.62 per centum compared with the end of November .

However , the f number at which Firefox is pull ahead market share has slow down down , WebSideStory articulate . Firefox ’s market share grow 15 percent over the last five weeks , compared to outgrowth of 22 percent in the full point between Dec. 3 and Jan. 14 . From Nov. 5 to Dec.3 , in good order after the launching of Firefox 1.0 on Nov. 9 , the web browser app ’s market place share grow 34 per centum , it said .

The initial high adoption pace had Firefox on a path to get to a 10 percent market share by mid-2005 , according to WebSideStory . With the slower maturation , the internet browser may pass on that milestone by the end of the year , WebSideStory set . That achievement would be in telephone circuit with the end set by the Mozilla Foundation .

“ Growth in Firefox ’s utilization has slowed somewhat since its large surge in November . This is in all probability to be expected as we move beyond the former - adopter section , ” WebSideStory Chief Executive Office Jeff Lunsford say in a financial statement . “ Growing concern over likely security holes in the web web browser might be another broker to consider . ”

The Mozilla Foundation , the distributor of Firefox , last week warned of serious security department defect in the web browser and exhaust an update . In an about typeface two calendar week ago , Microsoft said it would release a examination version of IE 7.0 in mid-2005 . antecedently , Microsoft had said it would not offer a browser app upgrade until the next version of Windows ship in late 2006 .

Both WebSideStory and OneStat.com measure web browser market part by tracking what Web browsers are used when visiting certain Web website .