Google launches new browser war against Microsoft

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10365201

With Chrome, Google launches new browser war against Microsoft
CHROME TAKES AIM AT MICROSOFT'S IE
By Brandon Bailey
Mercury News
09/02/2008

In the ongoing war for Internet users' eyes and wallets, search giant Google on Tuesday unveiled a shiny new Web browser that it hopes will lure users away from Microsoft's Internet Explorer — and bolster Google's lucrative online advertising and applications business as well.

Google says its new Chrome browser, launched just a week after Microsoft unveiled an updated version of Internet Explorer, is designed to be faster, easier, more stable and more secure in an era when users are increasingly turning to the Web to run complex applications — from watching video to crunching data and running other sophisticated programs that were once housed exclusively within a PC's hard drive.

The new browser has a single box to type in search keywords and Internet addresses. It's designed with "tabs" that access individual Web sites independently, so if one stalls it doesn't crash the others. And like the new version of Microsoft's browser, it offers an "incognito" feature that lets users surf online without storing cookies or a history of which sites they visited.

Although Google claims Chrome is faster than its competition, some early reviewers — including the Mercury News — were not convinced. But all found features they liked, especially its use of tabs.

For months, Microsoft executives have made no secret of their desire to carve out a bigger share of the online advertising business that is Google's bread and butter.

Google, in turn, has introduced online word processing and spreadsheet applications that compete with Microsoft's desktop software.

And for the past two years, Google executives said they have been working on developing a browser — a project that Sundar Pichai, vice president for product development, called a "huge investment" toward Google's evolution "from a search company to a search, ads and applications company." He declined to specify how much money or staff time was devoted to the effort.

The new browser incorporates some open-source software used in Apple's Safari browser and Mozilla Foundation's Firefox, and Chrome is being released as open-source code, so others can modify it or use it to develop other programs

It's not the first time someone has challenged Microsoft's browser, which became the market leader after a bruising battle with then-rival Netscape in the 1990s. And although they mostly shied away from criticizing Microsoft on Tuesday, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin acknowledged they wouldn't mind ending the giant software maker's dominance in the field.

"We want to see more choices," said Brin, after noting that more than 70 percent of Internet users currently use Explorer to navigate the Web.

More competition will lead to more innovation and improved features in all Web browsers, Brin added. But he and Page acknowledged it could also benefit their company, which powers nearly two-thirds of all Internet searches and sells advertising keyed to those searches.

Faster browsing can translate into more searches, Page said: "We would like you to do more searches."

Industry analysts said that's the key to understanding why Google is getting into the browsing market. The company is making Chrome available as a free download and said it may consider agreements with computer manufacturers to offer it pre-installed on new machines.

Browsers by themselves are not big revenue generators, but they are the vehicle that delivers computer users to search engines and other online applications, said Sheri McLeish, an analyst at the Forrester market research firm.

"This is really a way for Google to build out its strategy for taking over the desktop from Microsoft," she said.

Wall Street analysts said the strategy makes sense.

By developing its own browser, Google can design it to maximize the features of its other online applications, UBS analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a note to investors Tuesday. He suggested the browser may also give Google more data on users' habits and trends, which it can use to deliver more targeted advertising.

"There is market demand for a browser that is speedier, simpler, safer and stabler than IE," added Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney, pointing out that nearly 20 percent of computer users have adopted the Firefox browser.

But Schachter warned that Google has launched other products with great fanfare, and not all have been hits. "Before we get too excited, let's see the product and Google's ability to push it," he advised.

Contact Brandon Bailey at bbailey@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5022.