Google Chrome tops 160 million users

Google has announced that users of its Chrome browser have now topped 160 million - more than double its user-base just one year ago.

Chrome reportedly snatched 1 per cent of browser market share in its first day, and has since seen huge growth, increasing its share from just over 8 per cent to over 18 per cent in the last 12 months.

Chrome's simple, snappy design has seen people flock to the browser from Internet Explorer, and even from Firefox. According to Statscounter.com, Firefox has lost more than two per cent market share in the same period, with the release of Firefox 4 doing little to help, despite being downloaded 24 million times in its first three days.

In contrast, Chrome 10, which was released in March, has kept the momentum going for Google, which looks set to hold well over 20 per cent of browser market share by the end of 2011.

Meanwhile, Internet Explorer has been struggling to maintain its stronghold. Microsoft's browser has held less than 50 per cent of browser market share since the end of 2010, with the March release of IE9 seemingly doing little to lure back users.

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