diff --git a/src/lib/input/input-container.scss b/src/lib/input/input-container.scss
index 28c6086e5945..4e9a82c4080d 100644
--- a/src/lib/input/input-container.scss
+++ b/src/lib/input/input-container.scss
@@ -16,7 +16,10 @@ md-input-container {
 
 .md-input-element {
   &::placeholder {
-    visibility: hidden;
+    // Note that we can't use something like visibility: hidden or
+    // display: none, because IE ends up preventing the user from
+    // focusing the input altogether.
+    color: transparent;
   }
 
   .md-end & {