Does this mean the end of IE as we know it? Not exactly. As indicated, even with it falling under the halfway point in terms of usage, at 49.58 percent of the market share, Internet Explorer still has more users than the rest of the listed browsers combined. According to the report from NetMarketShare, via FavBrowser.com, Internet Explorer’s two biggest competitors, Firefox and Chrome, have a combined market share of 37.8 percent. It’s only when you add in the reach of Safari, Opera and the ubiquitous “other” browser (8.54%, 1.49%, and 2.59%), does the total number eclipse IE’s share.

Have a look:

W3Schools is a website for people with an interest for web technologies. These people are more interested in using alternative browsers than the average user. The average user tends to the browser that comes preinstalled with their computer, and do not seek out other browser alternatives.[Emphasis added]

The bold section of the previous blockquote helps explain Internet Explorer’s still sizable market share quite well. Of course, as more and more people move away from the traditional methods of browsing in favor of mobile devices and tablet computers, expect these numbers to continue their adjustment.

Besides Internet Explorer’s drop in usage, another thing that stands out is Google Chrome’s increase, which was by more than one percentage point. In September, Chrome’s share was 15.17 percent, and for October, its share increased to 16.59 percent. Google’s browser was the the largest gaining in terms of market share. In fact, it was the only browser to increase by a full point.

Safari experienced gains as well, but not as much as Chrome. Apple’s browser saw its market share increase by .51 percentage points, making it the second highest browser in terms of gains.

Apparently, IE users aren’t quite the smartest citizens of the interwebs – at least when compared to users of Firefox, Chrome and Opera.

Here’s how the test went: AptiQuant offered online IQ tests to over 100,000 people and charted the results based on which browser they used to take the test. Simple as that.

The results show that IE users of all versions performed the poorest of all browsers tested. And the older the version of IE you’re using, the lower your IQ. IE 6 users and IE 7 users average a score of barely over 80. IE 9 and IE 8 users averaged around 95 and 90, respectively.

Next were Firefox users, followed by Chrome and then Safari. The real bright bulbs turned out to be Opera users, who average an IQ score of just under 130.

They also measured these results against results from 2006 and found that IE users have dropped on the scale over the past 5 years.

AptiQuant concluded this –

The study showed a substantial relationship between an individual’s cognitive ability and their choice of web browser. From the test results, it is a clear indication that individuals on the lower side of the IQ scale tend to resist a change/upgrade of their browsers. This hypothesis can be extended to any software in general, however more research is needed for that, which is a potential future work as an extension to this report.

Of course not all people who use IE lack intelligence. But these findings have to make you wonder; why do those other browsers appeal to a more intelligent crowd?

As a promotional campaign for a new opera debuting this month comes a nice little video entitled “Can I Be Your Friend.” One man walks around and interacts with real people in the same manner we react with people on Facebook and Twitter. The results are entertaining.

The opera in question is called “Two Boys” and it is based around the topic of “internet crimes.” In fact its inspiration comes from a 2004 story about an internet-based crime. A 14-year-old boy apparently posed at a female spy online and convinced an older boy to kill someone for him. The person he was trying to get killed was actually himself, and he was attacked, suffering multiple stab wounds. The older boy feel in love with the younger boy, and more confusion ensued. See how murky the internet can get sometimes?

The Opera is from the mind of 28-year-old composer Nico Muhly and will premiere at London’s English National Opera on June 24th.

The promotional video available on YouTube asks if you’ve “ever thought what could go wrong” in your online life? A man walks around asking strangers to be his friend, if he can poke them, and sticking “like” post-its on everything he sees. In the end there is even a gag involving a pretty creepy interpretation of a common Twitter term.

Check it out:

First of all, Opera released the new version of its browser, Opera 11.10 beta, which is codenamed “Barracuda.” In addition, it introduced into beta a set of debugging tools called Opera Dragonfly. According to McCathieNevile, both of these developments have all the great features that users want out of Opera. He said that Opera 11 users could sync up features such as Opera Unite and links with their mobile browser to allow for bookmarks and other elements to correspond on both platforms.

The company is also making strides in mobile with the introductions of Opera Mobile 11 and Opera Mini. Opera Mobile 11 is a fully powered browser with a new, fast interface that enables APIs. McCathieNevile pointed out that the focus for Opera Mini was the user experience. Both Opera Mobile and Opera Mini are also optimized for tablets.

All of Opera’s new releases have improved support for standards as well.

In terms of what sets Opera apart from the competition, McCathieNevile explained that users could run the browser on anything and that their tools include a lot of functionality.

“It’s fast, it’s secure, it’s standards compliant, [and] it’s a top-quality, modern browser; and when you dig in it, you find just a whole lot more,” he said.

He indicated that the company was working on a TV offering too. Incidentally, the Inquirer reports that Opera has just announced Opera Devices 3.0, which is the newest version of its Web browser for TVs.

Because privacy concerns are always a big issue in regards to browsers, Opera is also working in this area. McCathieNevile said privacy has been a “key concern for a long time” for Opera. The user experience on Opera is encrypted to ensure that the user is not tracked or followed.

While Opera 11 gives users a clear understanding about what they’re connecting to, the browser is continuing to work on helping them better distinguish between trusted sites and secure sites. McCathieNevile also pointed out that users should have very simple and clear choices when it comes to their browsing experience. In other words, these choices need to be communicated in a way that all users understand.

He said that Opera would continue to work toward this initiative because it could be used to enhance privacy.

Let’s waste no time getting into the stats.  Opera said in a statement, "In October 2010, Opera Mini had over 76.3 million users, a 7.1% increase from September 2010 and more than 92% compared to October 2009."  Also, "Since September, page views have gone up 12.6%.  Since October 2009, page views have increased 142%."

Then here’s one more important cluster of data points: Opera said, "In October 2010, Opera Mini users generated over 616 million MB of data for operators worldwide.  Since September, the data consumed went up by 15.1%.  Data in Opera Mini is compressed up to 90%.  If this data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed over 5.7 petabytes of data in October.  Since October 2009, data traffic is up 134%."

So it looks like quite a rush is underway, with young people leading the charge.  (Opera found most 18-to-27-year-old Opera Mini users use their mobile phones to access the Web more often than a desktop or laptop PC.)

That info should be of use to content creators and advertisers, not to mention companies like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.  Of course, as mentioned before, Opera Mini users may not fit into the middle of any bell curve, but perhaps they’ll function as early adopters who forecast trends.

Opera’s more personal conclusions stems from a 300,000-individual survey, by the way, not any sort of user-monitoring program.

WordPress introduced a new subscriptions feature. "Let’s say you’re reading a blog on WordPress.com that you really enjoy — so much so you want to be notified when new posts are published so you remember to read them," WordPress explains. "You can subscribe to this blog really easily by using the ‘Subscribe’ menu in the admin bar. By going up to your admin bar, and clicking ‘Subscribe to blog’, you’ll be instantly subscribed and all current and future posts will be added to the subscriptions tab on your WordPress.com home screen."

Facebook added a new ad impressions counter. As PaidContent’s David Kaplan writes, this social metric will show benefits of ads that include social context from people’s friends on Facebook. 

Seesmic released a new version of Seesmic Desktop. "The inspiration to build SD2 came from the understanding that our users desired support of many different social services, more than just Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin," a representative for Seesmic told us.  "And so, SD2 was born. With the plugin architecture in SD2, you can easily add, remove and customize the platform to include only the services that matter to you." 

Netflix streaming is now available for Panazonic VIERA Cast HDTVs and Blu-Ray players. CrunchGear has more on this. 

Opera and Netrange MMH revealed a new way for device manufacturers to give consumers a wide variety of content on their connected TVs – a space that it is obviously getting more competitive by the day.  They will deliver the Opera Devices SDK and a pre-qualified suite of web-based TV content to be deployed on TV platforms supporting HbbTV and other pan-European initiatives. More on this here. 

Intel released an iGoogle gadget for MESH  power management information.

As part of the agreement, Opera and any of Telenor’s business units may develop a co-branded version of Opera Mini that is adapted to the local operator.

"Telenor has a vision to provide mobile Internet with a great user experience to everyone. We are confident that this agreement will help us provide Internet to a larger user group across the world," says Morten Karlsen Sørby, EVP and Head of Corporate Development at the Telenor Group. "We are thrilled to work closely with Opera, a company that spun out of Telenor in the late 1990s, and have grown to become one of Norway’s most successful technology exports.”

"Our goal is simple: help Telenor grow its user base and revenues by delivering an unparalleled Internet experience to every local operator in the Telenor network. Telenor’s strong global position is a result of their relentless commitment to the customer, in markets as diverse as Sweden, Russia, Bangladesh and Hungary,” says Lars Boilesen, CEO, in Opera. "We are proud of our heritage from Telenor’s research labs. Today, we join efforts to give more people the opportunity to fully enjoy the web on their mobile phones."

The first deployment of Opera Mini in the Telenor network is coming in September.

Opera says Opera Mini is the world’s most popular mobile browser, with 60 million monthly users.

"Opera Mini has experienced tremendous page view growth in recent years," the company says. "In June 2008, Opera Mini servers processed 100 million page views per day for the first time. In June 2010, Opera Mini users viewed more than 910 million pages on average every day, an increase of more than 161% since June 2009."

"Each day is different in the fast-growing mobile Web. Every day more people around the world choose Opera Mini and view more pages through this browser," said Opera co-founder Jon von Tetzchner. "Crossing one billion pages views in a day is further proof that people desire the best Internet experience, no matter where they live or what device they use."

Opera Mini is available on over 3,000 different phone models. Version 5.1 was just launched for Android a couple weeks ago. This may pad opera’s numbers even more as Android growth continues.

Yesterday, Opera released its State of the Mobile Web report, looking at the mobile web explosion in Africa.

"Opera Mini is a favorite not just on feature phones, but also on smartphones, scoring an impressive 1 million downloads on the iPhone during the first 24 hours of availability," Opera says. "Opera Mini is highly optimized for almost any handset, delivering the best Internet experience on more than 3000 mobile phone models."

"Opera Mini 5.1 for the Android platform is the next step in bringing the world’s most popular mobile web browser to all major platforms, offering improved performance and great web experience to almost any handset," says Opera CEO Lars Boilesen. "Opera Mini is used by over 61 million people on more than 3000 handset models and with today’s release Opera continues its mission to provide the best web experience on any device and on any platform."

The browser can be set as the default browser on your phone, and the company says on Android phones with bigger screens, it offers improved page layout.

Opera Mini 5.1 for Android can be downloaded via the Android Market or at m.opera.com.

"Regardless of differences in economy, culture or location, those four evening hours account for a disproportionate amount of mobile data consumption," the company says.

Opera’s report is based on usage of its own Opera Mini browser, which certainly isn’t representative of all mobile usage, but it does have a lot of users, and the stats are worth noting.

Opera Highlights the following global trends:

- In May 2010, Opera Mini had over 61.4 million users, a 4.2% increase from April 2010. Since May 2009, the number of unique users has increased 142.0%.

- Indonesia passed Russia to claim the top spot for Opera Mini usage, Nigeria jumped ahead of Ukraine, and South Africa leaped ahead of the United States. After the changes, the top 10 countries for Opera Mini usage in May 2010 were: Indonesia, Russia, India, China, Nigeria, Ukraine, South Africa, the United States, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.

"Our servers compress more than four petabytes of data each month, and that number shows no signs of slowing," said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software. "As more consumers use increasingly vast amounts of mobile data, it looks like we will need more people looking after our servers in the evening hours. The heaviest mobile browsing worldwide occurs between 8 p.m. and midnight, regardless of where people live, their current economic situation, or the availability of broadband."

Some more stats from the report are highlighted here, and the entire report itself can be found here. A significant amount of the report focuses on trends in Latin America.