The latest monthly browser stats from market research firm Net Applications have been made available. It shows that as of January, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) commands a 52.96% share of the global browser usage pie, which is pretty much unchanged from November’s 52.64%.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser’s share is down from 22.14% in November, but the fox still manages to keep its paws on second place with its 20.88% stake. Biting at its heels is Google’s Chrome which sees its share of the browser pie increase slightly from 18.18% during November to 18.94% for January.

Like Mozilla, Apple’s Safari browser is also pressing the down button on the browser stake elevator with its 5% market share in November, shrinking to 4.9% in January. Opera Software’s Opera browser, however, gained a few users to see its fringe stake climb from 1.55% in November to 1.67% during January.

IE9 on the rise on Windows 7 running PCs

According to a blogpost on Microsoft’s official The Windows Blog by Roger Capriotti, director of Internet Explorer product marketing, the usage share of Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) on Windows 7-operating PCs worldwide already surpassed that of IE8 during December.

Capriotti stated that IE9’s growth rate on Windows 7 continues to climb around the globe, but especially in the US where it surpassed 36% usage share in January, with IE8 dropping below 30%.

 

In other related news, Mozilla has released version 10 of its Firefox web browser, which  introduces features like anti-aliasing for WebGL graphics and full screen APIs to run apps full screen.