According to Statcounter, provider of global internet statistics, Firefox overtook Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) to become the number one browser in Europe in December 2010.
Firefox took 38.11% of European market share, compared to IE's 37.52%.
Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. "This appears to be happening because Google's Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer while Firefox is mainly maintaining its existing share."
Google Chrome in third place is gaining market share in Europe and has grown to 14.58% compared to 5.06% in December last year. Cullen went on to say: "We are probably seeing the impact of the agreement between European Commission competition authorities and Microsoft, to offer EU users a choice and menu of browsers from March last".
In North America IE still retains a clear lead in the browser market with 48.92% followed by Firefox (26.7%), Chrome (12.82%) and Safari (10.16%).