Just over two weeks ago, we released Internet Explorer 9 and in that short time it has been great to see the positive reaction around the globe. Ars Technica called IE9 “the most modern browser there is,” Computer World said “IE9 speeds past the competition,” and Venture Beat said “Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 9, its prettiest browser yet.”
It’s also been humbling to see customer enthusiasm for IE9. What really matters however is the web experiences themselves. Our decision with IE9 was not to build to the lowest common denominator. That pattern has arguably been the norm for browser vendors, including IE, for years. The result has been a lot of browser “feature” innovation, while the web that we all use has remained largely a flat experience compared to that of the native apps on your PC or phone. With IE9 we made the decision to help unlock the best web experience possible, which means taking advantage of everything around the browser – including Windows 7 and modern PC hardware. When sites like Flixster or Huffington Post see greater than 50% increase in engagement from their users with IE9, it’s not because we simply created more browser features – it’s because we took those sites out of browser box and integrated them right alongside native applications in Windows 7 and gave the site developers similar capabilities. When Grant Skinner uses HTML5 to build a rich Pirates Love Daisies game, you realize IE9’s hardware acceleration of HTML5 is unlocking experiences that simply weren’t possible on the web a year ago.
Over 1,000 partners are building experiences that take advantage of IE9 and Windows 7’s unique capabilities including some of the biggest names on the web. Some of those partners – like Groupon, Gilt, and Slacker have even developed some great new offers that they are extending to their IE9 customers when they pin their site.
It’s obviously very early but we are pleased with the reception. According to Net Applications’ latest data, worldwide, IE9 share on Windows 7 reached 3.6% for the month of March. The combination of IE9 and Windows 7 with the PC creates the best experience for users of the web and the developers and designers that create those sites. The adoption rate of IE9 is about five times higher then what we saw for Internet Explorer 8 in the same time frame. As we mentioned on Tuesday, all of our early downloads (through March 27) were user-initiated with over 90% of the downloads coming from non-IE9 RC or Beta users, including over a quarter that came from Chrome and Firefox users.
Last month, we also launched a new website called ie6countdown.com. The response to the site has been overwhelming. We had users from all over the world showing great interest – with over 1.1 million unique visitors to the site and nearly 1.8 million page views. We now have over 400 partners like Woot and CNET who have joined the cause and are committed to help spread awareness about moving to a modern browser. Net Applications reported that we are one step closer to the goal in March, with IE6 dropping another 0.43 points to 11.58% worldwide across all operating systems.
Try IE9 for yourself today by visiting www.beautyoftheweb.com. We look forward to sharing more with the MIX 11 crowd in Vegas in a couple weeks!
Ryan Gavin
Senior Director, Internet Explorer Business and Marketing
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