Mozilla Firefox 3.0 became the most popular web browser in Europe last week, overtaking Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 for the first time on a weekly basis according to web analytics firm StatCounter.

Firefox 3.0 took 35.05% of the European web browser market followed by 34.54% for IE 7.0.



"The move is partly explained by a small switch from IE 7.0 usage to IE 8.0 but also by growing market share overall by Firefox 3.0," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO and founder StatCounter. "The data shows that Firefox is closing the gap and is now just 10% behind all IE versions in Europe."

The StatCounter analysis is based on four billion pageloads per month. The company has over two million members globally. Over 40% are located in the US with 25% in Europe.