Google gets what Mozilla wants: a Sony preinstall
Mozilla's Firefox has maintained its steady ascent against Microsoft's Internet Explorer in the global browser market, hitting 22.98 percent vs. IE's 66.97 percent.
However, Sony has now given Google's Chrome browser something that Mozilla has struggled to obtain: a preinstall deal. As CNET reports, Google Chrome is being installed on Windows PCs alongside IE, with other distribution deals likely.
Finally, a clear choice for consumers.
Google Chrome still accounts for less than 3 percent of the global browser market, but it has something that even Firefox can't match: a dominant, global consumer brand. Google Chrome isn't interesting to Sony because of its market share in Web browsers, but rather because of its overall consumer brand coupled with steady innovation in browsers.
Intriguingly, this Chrome deal opens up the possibility that Sony, as well as other computer manufacturers, will eventually sign on to ship Google Chrome OS, Google's Netbook-optimized Linux operating system.
At the same time, this move may open the door for Mozilla to snag its own preinstall deal(s) with competitors to Sony, who will also likely want to buy into Google's brand but may prefer the Firefox option, given its wider adoption. Firefox users have been pressuring major hardware vendors to preinstall Firefox for years, but the best Mozilla has done is to get Firefox preinstalled with Linux-based notebooks and Netbooks.
That's hardly something to cheer about, given the small share of Linux in mobile personal computers.
This Google Chrome preinstall leaves an opening for Mozilla, but to capitalize on it Mozilla must improve its message. It has recently been claiming that we're hitting a "seat-belt moment" in which browser security could lead to consumers flocking to Firefox. But it's hard to get excited about browser security, no matter how important it is.
Much more interesting are Mozilla's plans to update its browser to 4.0 by the end of 2010 and to release Fennec, its mobile browser, before the end of 2009, according to TG Daily. Extending Firefox to my mobile device? That is something consumers can get excited about which, in turn, should stir up interest from hardware vendors that are looking to bridge their smartphone and laptop strategies.
Back to Sony. Its open-source credentials have been called into question due to its rootkit debacle and decision to restrict Linux on the PlayStation 3, but this new decision to preinstall Chrome should redeem it with the open-source community and give Sony a ready-made marketing machine.
The browser market, already competitive, just became even more so. Google is at the top of its game right now, but so is Mozilla. Microsoft, for its part, is reportedly holding meetings in D.C. that some Beltway insiders have dubbed as "screw Google" gatherings. But Microsoft probably should be spending more time developing innovative browser solutions to compete with Google and Mozilla.
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Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
If "general" users start to use something other than IE and like it, they are more likely to be open to try other browsers. It's breaking the IE habit that is the difficult part.
I know what you mean. I had to break my habits myself. I then started thinking about it based on the location, and replaced every easy-to-find IE button with the Chrome one. Worked well. I think that Opera should try promoting more, as it is easily second-best to Chrome/Firefox, and is the best on Linux (as Firefox doesn't seem to do as well on Linux, even with Tracemonkey, and Chrome crashes every once-in-a-while).
Opera should come up with funding for something similar to: 'Replacing the E with an O, leaving you gaping. (no, not literally, but you get the point.)
Dell said recently that about a third of all their netbook sales are pre-installed Linux. And return rates are the same as for Windows. Considering how hard they make it to find them in the first place that is not an insignificant statement.
Good point in theory. However, if PCs come pre-installed with only one browser (and no informational wizard they are required to view before using any browser), I suspect that most (older) users will just shift their perception of "internet" onto whatever browser they see. But again, perhaps I am not giving people enough credit. I guess you only know what you experience.
That would be an interesting experiment
IE: Always lagging on standards compliance and chock full of security holes and lock in mechanisms
Chrome: Spyware
No thanks.
- by pentest September 2, 2009 9:04 AM PDT
- What kind of choice is that?
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- by MeepMan September 19, 2009 8:05 PM PDT
- Spyware? Chrome tells you it does it. Internet Exploder crashes and uses that as an excuse to do so. Chrome takes search info while recording the first day you installed Chrome. Do you think IE does any different? I mean, Windows auto-records the first day you installed IE, as you didn't in the first place unless you're buying Windows 6-done-right in the EU. I mean, you think Microsoft does not do exactly what Chrome does?
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(15 Comments)IE: Always lagging on standards compliance and chock full of security holes and lock in mechanisms
Chrome: Spyware
No thanks.