Reports suggest IE9 will launch this month

by Steven Mostyn - Mar 2 2011, 07:14

Although Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) has seemingly been in development for an age, the latest version of Microsoft’s market-leading browser should be ready for its full and final release by the end of March.

At least, that’s the word speeding up and down the information superhighway following the emergence of a suggestive Twitter message from someone over at MSDN India.

Although said loose-lipped tweet was quickly wiped from the Net (which perhaps tells its own story), Pocket-Lint caught a quick glimpse and said it revealed that IE9 will launch during the upcoming Tech.Ed event in Bangalore.

For those not up to speed on the Indian technology scene, Tech.Ed will be held between March 23-25 and, surprise, surprise, Microsoft’s Brian Hall (general manager of Internet Explorer and Windows Live) will be giving a keynote address on March 24.

Although the leaked launch window would appear to be a fairly solid bet, it's not the only date presently doing the rounds.

For example, tech blog Download Squad cites (conveniently) unnamed sources “intimately familiar” with the matter in its claim that IE9 will actually burst forth during the South By South West conference in Texas on March 14.

Earlier this month, Microsoft said its recently launched Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate (RC) was downloaded more than two million times within just a few days.

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