Google's Chrome browser will be getting extensions very soon, welcome news to users. According to analysis from CNET, Chrome currently has about 3.6% market share: far behind Safari (18.2%), Firefox (37.4%) and Internet Explorer (40.7%). Expect that to change. Firefox was a hit with early adopters, then became a real force when the extensions started pouring in, accounting for their narrow gap behind IE. While Chrome has a long way to go, it will certainly gain share once the extensions become available.

One of the first extensions rolled out will be an ad blocker - a very user-centric application, and apparently the single most requested. Also planned are Flashblock, Privacy control and Parenetal control. Another extension will come from Web of Trust (WOT), a security watchdog for online threats that will display rankings of trustworthiness next to links. That's kind of interesting when you think of Yahoo's latest push to users, claiming to be the most secure browser on the 'Net.

For website owners, it will become increasingly important to test your site in Chrome - especially if your site caters to the tech-savvy, early adopter crowd. For developers, this presents a tremendous opportunity to get in front of users. Check out Chromium's (Google's open source development tool) guidelines to developing extensions to get a head start on what will be a heated race.