Market research firm Net Applications has made its latest monthly desktop browser stats available, in what has amounted to a three horse race for first place.

According to the company, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) still takes up the biggest slice of the global browser pie by claiming a 54.02% stake, which is virtually the same as April’s 54.09%.

Mozilla’s Firefox browser’s share of 20.06% sees the fox keeping its paws on second place on the browser podium. Firefox just manage to edge out Google’s Chrome browser, which experienced a very slight uptake in usage to 19.08% for June from 18.85% for April.

Trailing behind the rest of the pack is Apple’s Safari browser, which decreased its user share from 4.81% during April to 4.73% in June. Things weren’t going any better for Opera Software’s Opera PC browser, as its usage rate dropped ever so slightly from a 1.63% share of the worldwide desktop browser usage pie to last month’s 1.60%.

On the mobile browser front

Safari might find itself falling behind in the desktop browsing race, but it’s king of the mobile web surfing jungle according to Net Applications.

Apple’s mobile browser for the iPad and iPhone is used by a whopping 65.79% of mobile web surfers, compared to just 19.17% of users opting for Google’s Android browser.

Completing the top 3 is Opera Software’s Opera Mini browser, which sees its stake decreasing from 12.05% within April to 10.45% for June, whilst the enhanced Opera Mobile browser for smartphones and tablets netted a further 0.38% for the Norwegian firm.

On the fringes we find RIM’s (Research In Motion’s) BlackBerry browser, whose share of 1.45% for June is slightly down from 1.62% during April. It is joined by the Symbian browser, which claims a 0.86% stake of the global mobile browser usage pie and Microsoft’s IE mobile browser with its 0.67% share.

In other browser related news, Adobe recently revealed that its Flash Player for mobile browsers is not certified for Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). The company is refocusing its Flash strategy on PC browsing and mobile apps packaged with Adobe AIR, and will be discontinuing its development of the Flash Player for mobile browsers in the process.