Whether or not any of us realized it at the time, the first month of 2011 was an exciting one when it came to Microsoft, Google, and the ongoing browser wars.  New stats from Net Applications indicate that some big changes took place, with Chrome gaining ground and Internet Explorer taking a hit.

Most recollections of 2010 will cover both ups and downs, or at least acknowledge that bad stuff occurred while focusing on the good.  But the Chrome Web browser enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive year, gaining market share 11 months out of 12 according to Net Applications, and the latest data indicates it ended 2010 with a share just shy of 10 percent.

The latest browser-related stats from Net Applications are out, and October represented more of a trick than a treat for Internet Explorer and Firefox.  But in terms of market share, Safari gained a tiny bit of ground, and Chrome definitely came ahead.

On a month-over-month basis, Net Applications believes Chrome’s market share increased from 7.98 percent to 8.47 percent.  And pitted purely against itself, that gain represents an improvement of 6.14 percent, which is quite good for that short a period.

Most major browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Opera, didn’t fare well in February, losing market share.  Net Applications found that Chrome managed to attract more than a few new users, however, increasing its market share by 0.39 percent on a month-over-month basis.

Last month, Google acknowledged Apple’s importance by releasing a beta version of Chrome for Mac.  New statistics show that Google sort of put Apple to shame, too, however, as Chrome passed Safari in terms of market share.

A market share of 0.74 percent is not good for morale at most companies, and perhaps all the less so at Google, where (Lively debacle aside) things tend to go well.  So, starting in January, the search giant’s going to take some rather unusual steps towards improving Google Chrome’s position.

Firefox has two important days coming up, and the exact dates of both of them remain unknown.  To discuss the first, anyway, Firefox should hit the 20 percent mark in terms of market share sometime next month.