As Microsoft continues to struggle in the browser market and loses ground to others, namely Firefox, Chrome and Safari, there’s good news for everyone else. Google’s Chrome browser took the number three spot from Apple’s Safari in December, according to Net Applications. Chrome was announced just 16 months ago, and Google unveiled the Mac and Linux versions of the browser a few weeks ago. Net Applications believe the surge in Mac and Linux users helped push Chrome to its third position. Chrome’s market share measured 4.63% with Safari dropping to the fourth position for the first time at 4.46%. Chrome gained 0.7% in December, the largest gain ever since its launch, and although Safari lost its third place, it still grew by 0.1%.

Obviously the story title is a little dramatic. The difference between Chrome and Safari isn’t outrageously spectacular. For Google to capture 4.6% of the market, however, is what’s interesting. It helps to be one of the hottest companies and have a massive online audience to establish your product in a ridiculously competitive market. Only if Opera had access to such an audience.