According to the most recent data forwarded by the Aliso Viejo, California-based Web metrics firm Net Applications, with 0.4 of a percentage point increase in its Web-browser market share in October, the Google Chrome ended the month with a 3.6 percent share of the browser market.

The latest leap by Google's Chrome has helped it inch closer to the third-ranking Apple Safari browser; which is behind the top rankers - Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) and Mozilla's Firefox. Going by the most recent trends, there are indications that the Chrome will outdo the Safari in February next year.

Overall, the October figures reveal that a monthly downturn in IE helped the other browser's to gain market foothold. Other than the Chrome, Firefox gained 0.3 of a percentage point to end up with 24 percent share for the month; while Safari gained 0.2 of a percentage point to end the month with 4.4 browser-market share.

The increase of 0.4 of a percentage point for Google's Chrome happens to be its biggest increase thus far for the Windows-only browser which was launched in September last year.

Meanwhile, the share of the Microsoft IE, which lost 9 points in the last year and 3 percentage points in the last three months, dropped by 1 percentage point during October to end up with a 64.7 percent share.