The Mozilla Foundation announced Friday morning that the open source Firefox Web browser has been downloaded over 1 billion times. This significant milestone, which was reached several days earlier than expected, is a clear sign of the browser's growing mainstream popularity.
Firefox has transformed the Internet by bringing innovation and a strong standards-based browsing experience to the masses. Its swift rate of advancement has been accompanied by rapid adoption, leading to the emergence of an enormous following of loyal users. The Firefox phenomenon has contributed greatly to leveling the playing field on the Web and reigniting competition in the browser market. Formidable alternatives are also gaining ground and helping to popularize emerging standards. This trend of emerging competition could eventually unseat Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer.
Mozilla celebrated the 500 millionth Firefox download last year. The total number of downloads has doubled in only 17 months. The release of Firefox 3.0 and 3.5 has likely played a major role in boosting the download count. Mozilla orchestrated a download day event for the 3.0 release, leading to over 1 million downloads in the first four hours alone and 8 million downloads during the first day. Firefox 3.5 brought in 5 million downloads during the first 24 hours.
Recent market share statistics show that Firefox has claimed 22.51 percent of the browser market, followed by Safari with 8.43 percent. Meanwhile, Internet Explorer's marketshare continues to decline. Here at Ars Technica, Firefox is the most popular browser and is used by nearly half our readers.
Microsoft's recent decision to offer Windows users a browser ballot in response to pressure from EU regulators could accelerate Firefox's growth in the region and further erode Internet Explorer's marketshare.
Mozilla has come a very long way since its humble beginnings as a Netscape spin-off. The Firefox developers are working on a number of exciting projects—including a mobile browser, a sophisticated synchronization framework, and an initiative to implement multiprocess browsing—that will help the browser remain relevant and continue to gain marketshare as its new competitors and Microsoft introduce new features.
