Editing Internet Explorer (section)

==Market adoption and usage share==
{{See also|History of Internet Explorer#Market adoption and usage share|Usage share of web browsers}}
[[File:Usage share of web browsers (Source StatCounter).svg|thumb|[[Usage share of web browsers]] according to [[StatCounter]], 2008–2021 ]]

[[File:Internet-explorer-usage-data.svg|thumb|left|300px|Historical market share of Internet Explorer, 1995–2024]]

The adoption rate of Internet Explorer seems to be closely related to that of Microsoft Windows, as it is the default web browser that comes with Windows. Since the integration of Internet Explorer 2.0 with Windows 95 OSR 1 in 1996, and especially after version 4.0's release in 1997, the adoption was greatly accelerated: from below 20% in 1996, to about 40% in 1998, and over 80% in 2000. This made Microsoft the winner in the infamous '[[first browser war]]' against Netscape. [[Netscape Navigator]] was the dominant browser during 1995 and until 1997, but rapidly lost share to IE starting in 1998, and eventually slipped behind in 1999. The integration of IE with Windows led to a lawsuit by [[AOL]], Netscape's owner, accusing Microsoft of unfair competition. The [[United States v. Microsoft Corp.|infamous case]] was eventually won by AOL but by then it was too late, as Internet Explorer had already become the dominant browser.

Internet Explorer peaked during 2002 and 2003, with about 95% share. Its first notable competitor after beating Netscape was Firefox from [[Mozilla]], which itself was an offshoot from Netscape.

Approximate usage over time based on various usage share counters averaged for the year overall, or for the fourth quarter, or for the last month in the year depending on availability of reference.<ref name="nashare">{{cite web|url=http://marketshare.hitslink.com/ |title=Market share for browsers, operating systems and search engines |publisher=marketshare.hitslink.com |access-date=February 9, 2011}}</ref><ref name=zdnetearly>Borland, John. [https://www.zdnet.com/article/browser-wars-high-price-huge-rewards/ Browser wars: High price, huge rewards], ''ZDNet'', April 15, 2003. Accessed June 2, 2012.</ref><ref name="thecountermonth">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2002/December/browser.php |title=TheCounter.com: The Full-Featured Web Counter with Graphic Reports and Detailed Information |publisher=Thecounter.com |access-date=October 17, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003033505/http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2002/December/browser.php |archive-date=October 3, 2008}}</ref><ref name="Thecounter.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.thecounter.com/stats/1999/December/browser.php |title=TheCounter.com: The Full-Featured Web Counter with Graphic Reports and Detailed Information |publisher=Thecounter.com |access-date=October 17, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002055109/http://www.thecounter.com/stats/1999/December/browser.php |archive-date=October 2, 2008}}</ref><ref name="bhn">{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9810/08/browser.idg/ |title=CNN&nbsp;— Behind the numbers: Browser market share&nbsp;— October 8, 1998 |publisher=Cnn.com |access-date=October 17, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000816032353/http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9810/08/browser.idg/ |archive-date=August 16, 2000}}</ref><ref name="wbs">{{cite web |url=http://www.omniture.com/home?cms_site_lang=1&s_cid=1493&s_cid=1493 |title=Web Analytics &#124; Online Business Optimization by Omniture |publisher=Omniture.com |access-date=October 17, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420103123/http://www.omniture.com/home?cms_site_lang=1&s_cid=1493&s_cid=1493 |archive-date=April 20, 2008}}</ref>

Internet Explorer's market share fell below 50% in September 2010.<ref>{{Cite news |last = Goldman |first = David |url = https://money.cnn.com/2010/10/06/technology/internet_explorer_market_share/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin |title = Internet Explorer usage falls below 50% |publisher = CNN |date = October 6, 2010 |access-date = October 6, 2010}}</ref> In May 2012, Google Chrome overtook Internet Explorer as the most used browser worldwide, according to [[StatCounter]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/255886/google_chrome_overtakes_internet_explorer.html|title=Google Chrome Overtakes Internet Explorer|date=May 21, 2012|website=PCWorld|language=en|access-date=January 19, 2019}}</ref>

===Industry adoption===
[[Browser Helper Object]]s are also used by many [[web search engine|search engine]]s companies and third parties for creating add-ons that access their services, such as search engine toolbars. Because of the use of COM, it is possible to embed web-browsing functionality in third-party applications. Hence, there are several Internet Explorer shells, and several content-centric applications like [[RealPlayer]] also use Internet Explorer's web browsing module for viewing web pages within the applications.