According to the most recent Web browser-related statistics released by NetApplications, the market share of the Google Chrome browser is rapidly on the increase – with the browser apparently on track to go past the 10 percent milestone by the end of 2010.

As per the NetApplications’ data, Chrome’s market share notched up to 7.05 percent for the month ended May 31, from its 6.73 percent market share at the end of April. The .32 percent month-on-month gain by Chrome was the highest among the Web browsers; and came at a time when the market share of competitors like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla’s Firefox witnessed a continuing plunge.

While the browser market share of the erstwhile market leader IE – which once boasted 93 percent of the market share – fell from 59.95 percent in April to 59.69 in May; the share of Firefox dropped from 24.95 to 24.35 during the same months.

Meanwhile, the Apple Safari, with its reported slow-paced growth, notched up marginally from 4.72 percent market share in April to 4.77 percent share in May.

However, overall, the market-leading IE, with its staggering almost 60 percent market share, continues to enjoy an overwhelming advantage over rival browsers, largely because over 90 percent of the world systems run Windows. The second-ranking Firefox and the third-rank Chrome respectively have only 25 percent and 7 percent of the browser market share.