Sony to distribute Google browser
Google has forged a distribution alliance with Sony's PC division and is in talks with other computer makers as it looks to promote its well-regarded but little-used Chrome browser. — The renewed efforts to expand the reach of Chrome come a year …
Context & Ripple Effects
A year after Chrome's first public tests drew praise but little market traction, Google is attacking the distribution problem directly: a confirmed alliance puts Chrome on Sony VAIO machines out of the box, with talks reportedly underway with other PC makers. The move lands two months after Google announced an entirely browser-based Chrome OS in July, making desktop placement of the browser the natural beachhead for the operating system that depends on it.
First-order effects
- Sony's PC division begins shipping Chrome preinstalled on new machines, giving Google its first OEM channel against Internet Explorer's factory-default position on Windows.
Second-order effects
- Rumored talks with additional computer makers put pressure on Microsoft — described in the corpus as Google's No. 1 rival — to defend IE's bundling arrangements, and could revive OEM willingness to ship multiple browsers rather than a single default.
Third-order effects
- If the OEM-placement pattern holds through Chrome OS's arrival, the browser shifts from being one application among many to the platform layer itself, weakening the Windows-desktop lock-in that has governed PC makers' software choices since the 1990s.
The trend: Browser wars are moving from download pages onto the factory floor, with OEM preinstallation becoming the decisive battleground ahead of browser-based operating systems.