Firefox 4 passes 40 million download mark

Firefox 4 continues to be hugely popular with web users, notching up over 16 million downloads in Europe and a staggering 41 million globally just nine days after launch.

Data from research firm Net Applications shows that Firefox 4 now has a 3.64 per cent user share, compared to just 1.79 per cent for Internet Explorer 9.

Mozilla released the FireFox 4 update for the Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms on 22 March.

Major enhancements include a revamped JavaScript engine to increase start-up and page loading times, App Tabs and Tab Groups to help better manage displays, and Firefox Sync as standard.

Firefox 4 garnered 3.5 million downloads in just four hours, whereas IE9 took 24 hours to reach the 2.35 million download mark.

Mozilla confirmed to V3.co.uk that its official counter was triggered on the release of Firefox 4 and does not include beta downloads.

Microsoft still retains over half of the browser market with a 57 per cent share, according to the latest stats from Net Applications.

However, Firefox is gaining ground with 22 per cent and is likely to continue growing as the browser is extended to platforms such as Android.

Google Chrome is also increasing in popularity with 11 per cent of the market.

However, the latest figures from StatCounter put Firefox in the lead in Europe.

The decision by Microsoft to support only the Windows Vista and Windows 7 platforms with IE9 is likely to have a major impact, as many people have yet to switch from XP.

V3.co.uk has a hands-on Firefox 4 review and a full Internet Explorer 9 review.