Google browser Chrome made available on iPhone, iPad

Chrome, the Web browser developed by Google, is now available for the iPhone and iPad, two key products of the IT giant`s rival Apple.

In a keynote speech at Google’s annual developers` conference in San Francisco on Thursday, Sundar Pichai, senior vice president for Chrome at Google, said, “We have been making efforts to ensure that the Chrome browser can be used in any kind of operating system or digital devices,” admitting to his company’s cooperation with Apple.

On the Chrome browser unveiled at the Apple app store after the speech, users lauded Chrome en masse, with one saying, “It`s far better than Safari (Apple’s browser).”

According to StatCount, an Internet surveying company in the U.S., Chrome became the world’s No. 1 Web browser for the first time last month with 32.4 percent of the global market, beating out perennial champion Internet Explorer (32.1 percent).

Introduced in 2008, Chrome drew criticism from many who said Google made a losing bet in a situation where even the once-dominant Netscape Navigator was forced out of the market in the face of competition with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Google, however, has risen to the top spot in about four years.

In the course of doing that, Google created an operating system based on Chrome and used software in office devices by producing computers such as Chrome Book and Chrome Box, thus threatening the foundation of Microsoft’s business.

Microsoft initially downplayed Google’s move, questioning what Google could do just with a Web browser, but Chrome has eaten into sales of Microsoft’s key products including Windows and MS Office. Chrome thus proved to be Google’s Trojan horse.

If Chrome is more widely used in the iPhone and iPad, these devices could end up becoming products for Google. Google, however, can only distribute Chrome through App Store, which is directly controlled by Apple, placing the software under Apple’s direct oversight.

Pichai said, “We cannot disclose details of our agreement with Apple due to a non-disclosure agreement, but the two companies have found ways to resolve problems through long negotiations.”

sanhkim@donga.com