Of course that kind of extrapolation is mostly just wishful thinking, but Google's success in this market is impressive. IMO they've raised the quality bar for all the other browsers in a very short time.
Indeed. Even the comic book that they released to explain the innovations of Chrome was a great idea to make people understand and care more about this important piece of software.
They also do a whole lot of marketing. Some month ago there was a campaign all around the city advertising Chrome on billboards and in the subway. Software ads are kinda rare here, I think the last time I've seen some was at the launch of Windows7. Seeing Chrome posters in public at a time, where only developers where using it, was kinda surprising.