Google Chorme is the recent entry into the browser market. It is released by Google and uses the WebKit layout engine and application framework. The browser market is controlled two leading browsers Internet explorer and Mozilla's Firefox . In order to make an impact in this segment, Google is making aggressive moves. Now it is shipping the chrome browser with Sony PC. It is a first of its kind of deal in which browser is packaged with PC. Until now, chrome needed to be downloaded from the net by the user. With this, Google wishes to expand the reach of its browser and try to gain bigger market share.
This is an example of expansion of current business into new segment and through a new distributive channel (for more visit management and entrepreneurship and Class Summary)
I think a similiar incident had occured before which was termed as "Browser Wars" which ended with Microsoft bundling its IE 4.0 along with the Windows distribution. This move actually led to a lot of criticism as this move was percieved by the critics and writers alike as a way to gain monopoly in the market by Microsoft.
ReplyDeleteAs the operating system was a proprietary sorftware of MS, the move could not be legally challenged unless this was done on ethical grounds. Subsequently IE dominated the market from then on.
This also led Netscape to open source their browser which paved the foundation for Mozilla. This browser is currently the most downloaded browser on the internet.
Currently, apart from Mozilla and IE , there are some browsers that have a loyal fan base. One of them is Opera which has differentiated itself from its competitors in several ways.
Another is Konqueror that is shipped with a Linux machine runnind KDE though Mozilla is now dominant in the Linux world as well.
Personally, I don't think that with the present avatar, Chrome will have any significant impact on its market but you never know with Google :)