A new month means some new and interesting stats to consume from StatCounter. The numbers for the month of September don’t paint a good picture if you are Microsoft or an IE fan for that matter. According to the stats shared by StatCounter, Internet Explorer’s market share has fallen below the 50 percent mark which is the first time in the otherwise dominant history of Internet Explorer.

Browser Market Share September 2010

So here’s why it’s a sad day for Microsoft and Internet Explorer – IE’s worldwide market share at the end of September stands at 49.3%. The browser had a market share of 51.34% for the month of August. What’s more, IE’s share has fallen by 10% when compared with the year 2009. So clearly there is a decline.

As always, the loss of one is a gain for another. In IE’s case we have two beneficiaries in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Firefox share has increased by 0.5% to 31.5 whereas the search engine giants’ browser stands at 11.54%. Google Chrome being the underdog has an advantage over Firefox and what’s more its gaining ground rapidly due to its simplistic yet speedy browser experience. Firefox on the other hand has entered the slow mode not only statistically but also performance wise. Is this the beginning of the end for Microsoft? Share your thoughts with us.

[via Mashable]