IE9 Hits 30 Million Downloads

As 2010 comes to an end, we wanted to take a look at the changes this last year in the IE world. At end of 2009, IE 6 and IE7 accounted for 38.51% of internet users, while IE8 had 24.15% of users worldwide. Fast forward twelve months later, IE6 and IE7 have shed over 40% of users and now only account for 22.98% of users worldwide – with IE6 hitting an all-time low of 13.81%. IE8 usage on the other hand has increased by almost 40% during the same time. Combined with the near half-percent of users of newly introduced IE9 Beta, the modern Internet Explorer browsers now account for 34.07% of users worldwide according to Net Applications.

We also launched IE9 in 2010, and the response to the IE9 Beta launch on September 15th has been overwhelming. IE9 Beta has been downloaded 20 million times since launch in September, and IE9 now accounts for 0.46% of internet users worldwide at year end. In the three months since the beta launch, we have also released two platform previews and became the leading browser in JavaScript performance as measured by WebKit SunSpider. We have continued to invest in consumer privacy by introducing Tracking Protection, which helps consumers to identify and block many forms of undesired tracking of their online activity. We have also seen third-party validation of the security safeguards for consumers built into IE9 with a recent NSS Labs study showing how we lead the industry in protecting our customers against online threats. And, we continue to see partners tapping into the capabilities of IE9 with over 900 sites having created experiences like Jump Lists and notifications from their pinned sites in Windows 7.