The market adoption of Google’s Chrome browser has received a significant boost from Sony. Following a deal arranged between the two technology giants, Sony will install Chrome as the default Windows web browser on a selection of laptops. The machines are likely to be offered in the US first with other territories coming soon after.
Chrome’s market share has increased to around 6% and is likely to overtake Safari and Opera to become the web’s third most popular browser (source: w3schools.com). Google has been heavily promoting the browser on web sites such as YouTube and we suspected they would instigate licensing deals with PC manufacturers. Sony is a popular brand and, although they are one of the smaller PC manufacturers, Google will certainly be pursuing deals with companies such as Dell and Hewlett Packard.
Google are in a unique position compared to other the browser vendors:
- Although Apple promote Safari on Windows PCs, they ultimately want people to purchase Macs. The browser will never become Apple’s primary focus.
- Mozilla is an open source organization. They do not have the same commercial and business pressures.
- Opera does not have the same marketing clout or budget.
Browser statistics should be taken with a large pinch of salt, but Chrome appears to be eating into Internet Explorer’s share. Chrome’s success makes sound business sense for Google. On the contrary, Microsoft is suffering: the company has been slow to release IE updates and has been forced to provide a browser ballot screen in Europe.
Chrome’s future looks promising. Will we see a three-way fight between Microsoft, Mozilla and Google for the coveted top browser?
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Craig BucklerCraig is a freelance UK web consultant who built his first page for IE2.0 in 1995. Since that time he's been advocating standards, accessibility, and best-practice HTML5 techniques. He's created enterprise specifications, websites and online applications for companies and organisations including the UK Parliament, the European Parliament, the Department of Energy & Climate Change, Microsoft, and more. He's written more than 1,000 articles for SitePoint and you can find him @craigbuckler.
