Vendors including Dell, HP, Acer, and Toshiba have all told Google that they want to pre install the new Google Chrome browser on their notebooks and PC’s in place of Microsoft’s Explorer according to Google Insiders.
The move would be a big blow to Microsoft as several PC vendors are also keen to pre install a free trial of Google applications. Launched in September Chrome has only got 1% of the global browser market, Internet Explorer has a 71.3% per cent share and Mozilla Firefox 20%.
Chrome which is still under public testing before a final version is launched is significantly faster than Microsoft Explorer and doubles as both a browser and search engine.
Speaking to UK The Times, Sundar Pichai, Google Vice President, Product Management, revealed that Chrome will be ready to come out of “beta” testing by January, and that the search giant was looking at ways to make Chrome the browser of choice for the everyday user.
He added that versions on Chrome should also be available of computers using Macintosh or Linux software in the first half of next year, allowing the browser to be used on almost 99 per cent of computers worldwide.
Back in the early 1990’s Microsoft defeated Netscape Navigator in the first browser wars by cutting deals with vendors to pre install their Explorer offering. “Now the shoe s on the other foot with Google well positioned to hurt Microsoft going forward” said a local Gartner analyst.
Microsoft said it would not comment on its current commercial or distribution deals with hardware manufacturers.
The latest version of Microsoft’s browser, Internet Explorer 8, was launched in August and in tests at ChannelNews and SmartHouse the new browser constantly crashed while also having problems with plugins that had worked successfully on Explorer 7.
Mr Pichai said that once a glitch-free version of Chrome browser is launched early next year, Google will make a determined push to advertise its browser to the wider public.
Mr Pichai said: “We will throw our weight behind it. We’ve been conservative because its still in beta, but once we get it out of beta we will work hard at getting the word out, promoting to users, and marketing will be a part of that.”
