According to a Net Applications Inc. statement issued today, Mozilla Corp.'s browser has gained market share since its Firefox 3.0 version was launched last week.

Vince Vizzaccaro, Net Applications Inc. executive vice president of marketing, said that at the end of the week, Firefox totaled 19.17%, which is 0.76% more than May’s results showed.

At the same time, Microsoft Corp.'s IE went down by 0.8% (in May it had 72.95%) and Apple Inc.'s Safari by 0.1%. By the end of 2008, some analysts expect Firefox to reach a 30 percent market share.

However, Mr. Vizzaccaro warned that, for the time being, these numbers are not very reliable, and in order to get a clearer image of where Mozilla’s product stands, several weeks may be required.

Mozilla launched its Firefox 3.0 on June 17 and even the most optimistic expectations of company officials have been surpassed. According to President of Mozilla Europe, Tristan Nitot, during the first 14 hours after the launch, no less than five million downloads were recorded. In the end, after 24 hours, the meter showed 8 million downloads.

Mozilla’s software can now be found in the Guiness Book of World Records, under the most downloaded software in 24 hours section.

Mozilla people said the new software comes with over 15,000 adjustments and enhancements when compared to the previous version. "Put on your party hats and get ready to download Firefox 3 — the best web browser, period," the company confidently said.