Firefox usage remained level and Google's Chrome continued to pull ahead of Apple's Safari, but the most notable change in January's browser usage statistics is that Internet Explorer 6 is no longer the most common.
According to Net Applications's monthly usage share figures, number-one IE and number-two Firefox each slipped a bit compared to December — IE down from 62.7 to 62.2 percent, and Firefox down from 24.6 to 24.4 percent. Chrome rose from 4.6 to 5.2 percent, and Safari stayed level at about 4.5 percent.
A look at the version-by-version statistics reveals that IE6 and IE8 have changed places. IE6 was ahead by a nose in December, but in January, IE8 held a solid lead at 22.3 percent to 20.1 for IE6. Firefox 3.5, for comparison, is at 17.1 percent.
For more on this story, see Tide turns against IE 6 as usage drops on CNET News.
