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.
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.
