科技英语新闻:Firefox 4 trumps IE9 in first day download contest

BEIJING, March 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Mozilla's newly launched Firefox 4 Web browser was downloaded nearly 7 million times worldwide in the first 24 hours, according to media reports.

The number was almost triple the 2.4 million downloads that Microsoft reported in the first 24 hours after the Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) was released.

Nevertheless, the number lagged behind the record-breaking performance of Firefox 3, which was downloaded more than 8 million times in the first day after launch in mid-2008.

Statistics show that Firefox 4 has attracted interest from around the world, with 44 percent downloads in Europe, 26 percent in North America. and 20 percent in Asia.

Mozilla launched Firefox 4 on Tuesday at around 10:00 a.m. EDT to compete with Microsoft's IE9 and Google Chrome.

The new Web browser was originally scheduled to ship last November, but bugs delayed the release into early this year.

Firefox trumped IE9 in the first day download contest because it runs on Windows XP, the 10-year-old operating system that IE9 doesn't support.