A few months ago we reviewed Google’s Chrome browser on this blog and found it a pretty high-standard product, roughly on a par with both IE and Mozilla. But we all knew that it would be nigh on impossible for any new browser to seriously rival IE on features alone, as it’s at the pre-install stage that Microsoft’s dominance is rooted. With today’s announcement from Google it seems the picture could soon look a lot different…

Having released 14 major updates in just over 100 days since Chrome’s launch, Google now feel they have an adequately stable and developed product to end the Beta testing stage. Though even now Chrome is by no means perfect, Google clearly feel it is ready to step out of Beta mode and into the pre-install ring with IE.

With their unrivalled brand power, Google’s browser has the potential to match IE’s status as a standard pre-install browser - something that was always beyond other competitors (though good, Mozilla never really had a chance to increase user levels through any channels other than web downloads for example).

The main question now will be how computer stores decide which browser to offer on pre-install packages. One option would be to include both (though this might be unnecessarily cluttered) or to let buyers decide by offering systems with either browser.

However PC World and others eventually make the decision on which to choose, the main thing to remember about Google’s decision is that it does not mean that Chrome is a 100% finished and complete product. Rather it is at a stage where the company feels it can start to make a serious claim on the pre-install market, and hence provide a realistic and significant challenge to IE’s market dominance. The smart people at Google have known all along that it would take enormous brand power to compete with IE for the browser crown with it being won or lost in the pre-install arena. Bearing in mind the extraordinary current strength of their brand, the timing of this move couldn’t be better.

Dejan Levi
www.etondigital.com