The value of Google’s Firefox browser deal
Google has thrown the creators of the Firefox Web browser a lifeline.
On Tuesday, Firefox-maker Mozilla announced that it had renewed a “mutually beneficial revenue agreement” with Google for at least three more years.
The deal basically means that Google remains the default search engine built-in to the Firefox Web browser, a privilege for which Google pays Mozilla an unspecified fee.
Since Google signed the original deal in 2004, the search giant has introduced its own Web browser, dubbed Google Chrome. And with Chrome now used by one in four Web surfers, speculation had grown that Google might not renew the Firefox licensing deal, depriving the non-profit Mozilla of a vital revenue source (according to AllThingsD, which broke the news of Tuesday’s deal renewal, Google contributed 84 percent of Mozilla’s $123 million in 2010 revenue).
The value of the current Google deal with Mozilla is not being disclosed. Whatever the amount is though, it’s safe to say that it represents pocket change to Google, which has $43 billion in cash and short term securities on its balance sheet.
And with Google facing antitrust scrutiny for a variety of business practices, spending a little money to keep a rival browser alive has important PR value.
True, Google doesn’t dominate the Web browser market the way it does the search market. But Chrome’s market share is growing fast (in September 2009, it had a scant 2.8 percent share). And given the importance of the Web browser as the gateway to online information, Google’s newfound status as a browser superpower could provide ammunition to its critics going forward, especially if the browser market were to suddenly consist of only two major players, i.e. Google and Microsoft.
Tech wrap: Google unveils Chromebook
Google took the wraps off two Chromebook laptop PCs after nearly two years of delays and touts of its Chrome operating system as an alternative to Microsoft Windows. Samsung and Acer laptops using Chrome OS will go on sale June 15, as the world’s No. 1 Internet search engine tries to entice people to do more on the Web. As with Android, Chrome software will be free, but is expected to spur people to use the Internet more often and search for more things, potentially boosting Google’s Internet ads business.
Despite recent indications that Google is priming Chrome for use in tablets, Google says that it is “fully focused on notebooks” for the foreseeable future, writes Mashable’s Ben Parr.
Facebook users’ personal information could have been accidentally leaked to third parties, in particular advertisers, over the past few years, Symantec said in its official blog. Third-parties would have had access to personal information such as profiles, photographs and chat, and could have had the ability to post messages, the security software maker said. Facebook had taken steps to resolve the issue, the blog post said.
A security measure that Sony installed made the PlayStation website unavailable in Japan, the company said in a statement. A Bloomberg report had said the site was down because of a hacker attack.
Visa is working with several large U.S. and international banks to develop a digital wallet that people can use to pay for things online or with their phones. Its partners include US Bancorp, PNC Financial Services, Regions Financial, BB&T, Toronto Dominion’s TD Bank and the U.S. arm of Barclays. The digital wallet will store the banks’ customers’ credit and debit card account information, both for Visa cards and other cards. People can use the wallet to pay for things online or in stores, Visa said.
Two Swedes were jailed for life in the Philippines for violating human trafficking laws by running a live Internet porn operation in a city that catered to foreigners. Law enforcement agencies say cybersex is a growing industry in many parts of the world, including in the Philippines, where there is perceived to be a low risk of arrest and high returns.
Firefox 4 rounds out action-packed Web browser season
Apparently March is Web browser season.
On Monday, Microsoft unveiled Internet Explorer 9, the latest update of its browser, and trumpeted its 2.3 million downloads in the first 24 hours of availability. Earlier this month, Google unveiled the newest version of its browser, Chrome 10.
Now it’s Mozilla’s turn. More than a year in the making, Firefox 4 will be make its debut on Tuesday, bringing faster performance and a handful of new features.
And in a few weeks, the folks at Mozilla say they will release the first full-fledged version of Firefox for smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system (don’t expect an iPhone version of Firefox anytime soon, as Mozilla executives say that Apple’s terms of service prohibit third-party apps that boast standalone browser engines).
The flurry of new releases comes as competition in the browser market heats up. While Microsoft remains the dominant browser maker, the market share of Internet Explorer has slipped from roughly 68 percent two years ago, to 57 percent in February, with much of the gains going to new entrant Google, according to data on the Net Applications website.
Firefox is the No.2 player with roughly 22 percent share.
The new version of Firefox delivers a performance improvement that will make it six times faster than its predecessors, Firefox 3.6, according to Mozilla.
Google and Microsoft – lunch of the frenemies at Sun Valley
Google is moving to steal Microsoft’s lunch with its plan to release a PC operating system that competes with Windows. But when Eric Schmidt and Bill Gates crossed paths in Sun Valley on Thursday, lunchtime was all pleasantries.
As Gates was walking out from one of the morning conference panels for lunch, reporters naturally surrounded him to ask for his thoughts about the new Chrome OS announced by Google this week.
Before Gates had a chance to answer though, Schmidt appeared from behind and joked “it would be better if you don’t make that comment,” provoking laughter all around.
The pair shook hands and walked off together in conversation towards the garden where lunch was being served. Since reporters weren’t allowed in, the rest of the conversation is anyone’s guess.
(Photo: Eric Schmidt and Bill Gates talk outside the Sun Valley Inn on July 9, 2009. REUTERS/Rick Wilking)
ask yourself this have you ever ran across a web page created by google the would not render in your browser of choice? I know I haven’t but the same cannot be said for microsoft.
that is why google will win they know that forcing customers to pay to get to THEIR data is not a way to keep customers. they know the lock-in business model is dead.
microsoft just doesn’t get that concept and never will.
For Google, less is more versus Microsoft
– Eric Auchard is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own – By Eric Auchard
LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) – Google has entered the very lair of Microsoft by launching its own computer operating software.
And its strategy cleverly goes with the grain of the changes that the web is making to the way consumers use software. Time for Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer to worry.
The web search and advertising leader is not offering a copycat product to Microsoft’s desktop workhorse. Indeed it is upending the notion of what an operating system is. Microsoft’s vision is of a self-contained system that manages every action that your computer undertakes. Google takes a minimalist view. It argues that operating software only needs to do what can’t be done externally on the web.
By stripping the components to a minimum, Google has designed the system to be fast. It is promising that users will be able to fire up their computers and get on the web in a few seconds.
Google’s products run on a variant of Linux operating software. The guts of Linux provide many of the classic functions of a hardware operating system, leaving Google free to focus on new features.
Google argues that web software such as Chrome, Firefox, Apple Inc’s Safari and Opera’s eponymously named browser, can carry out many of the functions of operating software. Meanwhile active computer users spend more and more of their time using programs that either run or rely on the Web. That means they spend less and less time using programs that reside locally on the user’s own machine — the way that applications that depend on Microsoft Windows typically do.
Hmmm… Interesting indeed. There is no doubt that much more software is being developed as web based systems and there is a huge opportunity for IT suppliers to create and sell software using a Software as a Service (SSaS). I have my doubts though that everything is going to go this way though. There are huge security issues that need to be overcome and some software is simply just not suitable for delivery over the web using current technologies and that is not going to change any time soon. Security is a tough one and i’m not sure how some of the security requirements of some companies can be solved in a cloud based environment and possibly they cannot be overcome but this doesn’t stop these companies hosting there own web based applications. In terms of functionality. Ajax based applications can still be pretty flakey and making them more reliable and robust is very costly. Flax / Flex / Silverlight offer some interesting opportunities for increasing the functionality of the web but I don’t think these technologies have really arrived yet but I think this is the area that may help make Google’s dream come true and I am a little shocked they haven’t got an entry in this area of the market.
Google makes a TV ad
Google built its business on the advertising shift from traditional media, like TV and newspapers, to the Internet.
But as Google strives to jump-start its fledgling Chrome Web browser, the company apparently still sees value in good old-fashioned mediums like broadcast television.
Google said it would begin advertising Chrome on various TV networks beginning this weekend.
The TV spot will raise awareness of its browser, Google explained in a posting on its blog on Friday, “and also help us better understand how television can supplement our other online media campaigns.”
The Chrome browser, which Google released last year, is a distant No.4 among Web browsers with a scant 1.4 percent market share in April, according to Net Applications. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer rules the roost with a 66.1 percent share, followed by the Firefox browser and Apple’s Safari browser, respectively.
The Chrome TV ad, which Google said was made by a team of its employees in Japan, is a whimsical stop-motion-like animation in which the Chrome logo bounces around a box of woodblocks.
The 30-second ad, which has music but no spoken words, finishes with the simple message “Install Google Chrome.”
I didn’t get it. Stick to an ad on http://www.google.com. That I got and installed it.
Google’s Chrome out of beta, but only Windows-friendly
Google has decided its Chrome Web browser is all grown up-or. Or at least it has outgrown its beta label.
Google launched its fifteenth release of Chrome on Thursday morning, marking the browser’s first step outside the test phase. After absorbing 101 days of user feedback, Google says the latest version is equipped with improved audio and video performance, bookmark features and privacy controls.
Google tests show Chrome runs 1.5 times faster than when the browser first launched in September, according to a Google spokesperson.
Chrome is Google’s head-on challenge to Apple’s Safari, Mozilla’s Firefox and, of course, Microsoft’s juggernaut Internet Explorer, which has over 70 percent of the browser market. Chrome has 10 million active users world wide, according to Google.
If you’re a Mac user, you’ll still have to wait to use Chrome (or snag one of your friends’ Windows-supported laptops in the meantime), which makes it curious that Google took Chrome out of its beta phase so soon. The Internet giant is working hard to release a Mac and Linux version of Chrome as soon as possible, according to the Google spokesperson.
It’s still unclear if Chrome has the heft to overcome its rivals, but the browser is off to a good start as it took 1 percent of the global browser market within a day of its launch, according to Web traffic analysis company StatCounter. Chrome is likely to get a boost in traffic once its Mac version is released.
Now that Chrome is out of its beta phase, do you think it will threaten Microsoft’s dominance in the browser market? And, most importantly, will you switch from your current browser to Chrome?
Chrome is a nice concept. I’m using it every day for work without problems. Much faster than FF.
Getting ready for Google Explorer aka Chrome
Google is getting into the browser business with the launch of Google Chrome, a browser designed for today’s Internet user with better capabilities for video and other complex Web programs.
The comic strip on the left walks news users through the Open Source browser project and can be found here.
Many commentators see this as a challenge to Microsoft which launched Internet Explorer 8 last week. IE is on 70 percent of most U.S. personal computers but is vulnerable to new challengers. Not to long ago it had close to 90 percent of the market but in recent years Mozilla’s Firefox browser and Apple’s Safari have eaten into that share.
So why does Google need to launch a browser and what does it bring to the party?
This is what Google says:
We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build. On the surface, we designed a browser window that is streamlined and simple. To most people, it isn’t the browser that matters. It’s only a tool to run the important stuff – the pages, sites and applications that make up the web. Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.
This is what some bloggers say…
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