Google Chrome to be default Sony Vaio browser
Sony will deliver its Vaio line of PCs with Google Chrome installed as the default browser, and the Internet giant is said to be in similar talks with other computer manufacturers, the Financial Times reported.
The deal is a big win for Google, which has struggled to give Chrome a significant share of the market. In August, Chrome captured nearly 3 percent of the market, versus Internet Explorer’s 67 percent and Firefox’s 23 percent, according to Net Applications.
The agreement is Google’s first with a computer manufacturer. Microsoft has similar deals with PC makers to make Internet Explorer their default browser, and IE comes with the Windows operating system in the United States.
From the Financial Times report:
Similar distribution alliances have become a key part of the internet search wars as Microsoft and Google vie to be the default search service on new PCs.
Google confirmed that Sony PCs carrying Chrome had started to go on sale and said it was in talks for similar deals with other computer makers. It said the arrangement was “experimental” and part of wider efforts to boost distribution, including a deal to make Chrome available to internet users who download the RealPlayer software and the company’s first use of television advertising.
Along with Chrome will come Google as the default search engine on Vaio PCs. Many computers come with Google as the default, though many don’t; Microsoft, for instance, has distribution deals with Dell, HP and Lenovo to make Bing the default engine on their computers.
Of course, users as always will have the option to use a different browser on Vaio computers.
“Competition in the marketplace is good, and people have the right to choose a browser that is best for them,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in response to Google’s announcement. “People will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips, protects them from social engineered malware and phishing threats more than any other browser, respects their personal choices about how they want to browse and, more than any other browsing technology, puts them in control of their personal data online.”
