Apple's Safari, Mozilla's Firefox lose market share

Apple Inc.'s ploy to gain browser market share by pushing Safari to users with an update tool normally used for security fixes failed to boost its overall share, a Web metrics company said yesterday.

Instead, Safari's share fell last month to 5.5%, down from March's 5.8%, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer increased its dominance by growing to 76% from March's 74.8%. It was the first time Internet Explorer (IE) gained share since October 2007.

In late March, Apple started using its Windows software update tool -- previously used only to provide patches for iTunes and QuickTime -- to offer Safari 3.1 to users who did not have the browser already installed. More Details>>