Google's Chrome browser has overtaken Apple's Safari browser to become the world's third most popular browser behind Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The feat, which has been achieved in just 16 months since its launch in 2008, comes as Microsoft's IE browsers continue to lose market share.

According to net measurement firm, Net Applications, Apple's Safari browser dropped into fourth place for the first time with 4.46% of usage compared to Chrome's 4.63%.

The uplift, no doubt thanks to the release of the Google-created browser on the Mac and a big advertising campaign, including on the search engines home page, shows that Apple's Safari browser is still struggling to gain traction outside of the Mac operating system.

The two browsers are still a long way off Mozilla's Firefox and Microsoft's IE offerings however.

Firefox sits currently at 24.6% while IE has fallen from an all time high of just over 90% to 62.7% with the company suggesting many defectors leaving in the last couple of months.

Opera Software's flagship browser also gained ground in December, and accounted for 2.4% of all browsers used in the month.

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