This is Part 2 in my look at Google's strategy. Click here for Part 1.
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Google released its own browser named Chrome. The web browser (which I'm using right now and have implored you to switch to in more than one TECH Update post) followed Google's famed simply design and introduced so many new ideas the competition is copying it. Chrome's design is meant to remove the browser out of your online experience by making it as thin as possible, so you can experience and see the web instead of the browser bar. It was also tested as the fastest browser in start-up and website speed. Google then opened its design to allow others to copy it.
Why would a company want its competition like Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari to copy it? Simple, if Google' leads the development of browsers to make them faster, simpler, better protected, and with better support for HTML 5 and Javascript, it would greatly benefit Google's other products like its Instant Search, Docs, Calender and more. Google benefits when all browsers move forward and become better; it didn't see enough development and made its own browser to push the market forward. Today, Google's sandbox, Omnibox, thin browser have all been copied in newer versions of Internet Explorer and the new Firefox 4.
But Google didn't stop there when it came to the browser. Eventually Google released its Chrome Webstore. Here, Chrome users and can use and download Extentions which are built into your browser to enhance your web experience, Apps which are found in your new tab page. Some are built in, but most act as simple links to websites to show up of power of the web in a store where you may not have discovered otherwise. The Apps vary from Education, Games, Shopping, News and much more. The Chrome Webstore also includes a large array of Themes (copied from Firefox) to customize your browser. Finally, you can find Google's Ebook store where you can find 3 million free books to read online.
However, not all things are free. Like other App stores, there are some Apps that do charge for their download.
Recently, Google has taken Chrome one step further. It finished its initial testing of its ChromeOS system and has introduced it to the world; the future of computing.
Because the laptop runs on a stripped-down system, first-time setup takes three minutes, and the computers boot up in 8 seconds,Sundar Pichai, an executive for the Chrome group, said during the presentation
Acer and Samsung will be the first to sell the Chromebooks for around 500 dollars. Here is an introductory video:
This introduction comes at the same conference that the company released its beta version of a cloud music player called Music Beta which I wrote about in my last post here. With all this in mind, we haven't even talked about Google Blogger (which I use on this blog) and a plethora of other online software.
Google's strategy is clear: move everything online and all these steps prove it to be true. As its office tools like Google Docs, Calendar and more get stronger, its web browser continues to double in popularity each year (went from 70 million to 160 million today in 1 year), Android system take over the smartphone market and quickly grow in the slate market, Google wants everyone to be able to do everything without ever doing a computer virus scan.
It imagines a world where you never have to update your operating system manually, where you never have to save a document (it automatically saves), where you have access to your music, books, games, and favorite websites anywhere with an internet connection (or with the option to download). Never again should you worry about the memory on your computer or downloading malicious software. My skeptics look at Google's investments in driveless cars and windmills and question the sanity of the company's leadership, but I see a clear direct strategy to bring the world closer to the web. Yes, it has failed when it comes to social networking, but the company is not as weak or careless as some portray it to be. All it needs to do is follow the strategy is has so far and better connect all its different software into a central platform. Through Gmail but using Chrome on computers and Android on other platforms, this is how Google is aiming to do it.
Others are concerned of its dominance in these markets and I certainly welcome competition from Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook but its clear that Google is taking the lead and making the risky investments. Bravo.
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