In the past two months, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox released their latest versions, while Microsoft lured people into using Windows 7 nad Internet Explorer 9 with a bunch of freebies.  And now, the numbers are out as to which of these three is most used by consumers.

Net Applications released data that Windows 7 users globally now prefer to use IE9 as their web browser, followed by Chrome, putting Firefox in the third slot.  But Windows 7 users in the US have IE9 at the number one spot followed by Firefox then Chrome.

Roger Capriotti  Director of Internet Explorer Marketing stated in his post, “We’ve said for some time now that the thing we care about most is that the web experiences we all enjoy are getting better every day through a modern browser like Internet Explorer 9. The growth of IE9 on Windows 7 has been exciting to watch since our launch in March.”

Net Applications’ report is supported by StatCounter, provider of global web analytics, which reports that more people are using Chrome than Firefox around the world. Chrome’s global market share is at 25.69%, while Firefox was down to 25.23%.  But of course, IE is still leading the pack at  40.63% market share.

“We can look forward to a fascinating battle between Microsoft and Google as the pace of growth of Chrome suggests that it will become a real rival to Internet Explorer globally,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, StatCounter. “Our stats measure actual browser usage, not downloads, so while Chrome has been highly effective in ensuring downloads our stats show that people are actually using it to access the web also.”

And just like Net Applications’ data, in the US, IE’s market share is at 50.66%, up slightly from 50.24% year on year.  Firefox is still at second place with 20.09%, down from 26.75%. Chrome is up at 17.3% from 10.89% and Safari has 10.76% up from 10.71%.

Th UK market reflects the same result as the global market with IE having 42.82%, Chrome with 24.82%, and Firefox at third place with 20.56%.