|
|
|
4Ps
One more, below the belt!
Google Chrome, rather than a stand alone strategy, seems to be another step towards making Windows more irrelevant, says arun roy
|
| |
 Harry S. Truman, former US President, once said that he preferred one armed economists so that they would not be able to say, “On the other hand”! But let’s not blame economists for the way they insure themselves from the embarassment of being proved wrong in their assessment. Predicting the future with certainty isn’t exactly a walk in the park for anyone.
Take, for instance, the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the internet browser Chrome, Google’s latest salvo at Microsoft. Industry experts have started discussing of its future and aspirations. A number of tech bloggers have already started analysing whether Google Chrome will be able to dethrone Microsoft or kill Mozilla. There’s a general consensus as to what Chrome means, namely, it is Google’s way of eroding Microsoft’s dominance in the browser market. An analyst has quoted Google as an 800-pound gorilla, and when an 800-pound gorilla jumps in the pool, it tends to makes ripples. But will Chrome really give IE8 and Firefox a run for their money?
Google Chrome, a “fresh take on the browser”as the company claims it to be, does have some interesting features, differentiating it from other browsers available in the market. The most important feature it offers is its high level of user friendliness and keeping each tap in an isolated “sandbox” to prevent one tab from crashing another, and improve protection from rogue sites. The browser’s JavaScript engine enables the software to run the applications in a faster mode compared with other engines.
In an era, where Internet has become the primary medium to get connected across the world or real-time access to information, the importance of the web browser industry remains inevitable. “Google’s foray in the browser industry depicts more of its vertical expansion strategy. The dominant factor will be decided by the business models or long term strategies that Google would adapt to dent Microsoft’s dominance in the industry” avers Shushmul Maheshwari, Chief Executive, RNCOS E-Services Pvt. Ltd.
|
| |
|
Some experts feel that this is merely a part of a larger strategy by the search engine giant. “Google only dominates in one area and that is in online ad revenue due to their search engine. Chrome isn’t initially designed to dominate the browser industry; it is designed to be a front end for an emerging application class,” says analyst Rob Enderle, Enderle group. Chrome’s main target is more Windows and Office than it is Internet Explorer (IE) initially. Chrome is designed to help make Microsoft Office obsolete and make Windows irrelevant.
Maheshwari agrees, “The launch of Google Chrome could shake the dominant position of Microsoft in web browsers industry, which accounts for more than 70% of the browser industry.” However, the short term impact doesn’t seem much severe as much of the systems in work across the world have Internet Explorer as their default web browser. Switching to other browsers isn’t that easy for users when they are comfortable with an existing one. Its initial move cannot be considered as an assault on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, but the long term strategy may indeed be an assault on other products, like Office.
Currently, a majority of the browser market is being held by Microsoft, followed by Mozilla, and thus, leaving just 3% to 5% share of the browser industry for other players like Opera, Safari, and Netscape. Google already enjoys a dominant position in the search engine market, and combined with its own web browser with differentiated features, it holds the true potential to bring about a ‘disruption’ in the industry, resulting in restructuring of its market landscape. As competition often results in innovation of one sort or another, it will further lead to intensified competition in the industry, which, in turn, would lead to the introduction of more improved and innovative user-friendly features in the industry. Maheshwari believes that “Chrome’s impact on other browsers will be quite noticeable if things go well as per planned by Google.”
While the competition between Microsoft and Google is likely to produce many improvements for consumers, the likely fallout from the battle will be other browser makers that have only recently begun to pry market share away from Microsoft. Firefox could become a victim of “friendly fire” from Google as many of its users are the same early adopters who are most likely to switch and try a new browser. Other browsers, like Opera and Apple’s Safari might suffer loss of popularity too. The impact of Chrome on Opera will be minimal as Opera’s growth on the desktop is limited. But Opera will face challenges in the mobile space (where Opera’s potential lies) when Android or mobile version of Chrome will be released at the end of this year.
So far, the launches of new browsers by other companies have not been able to dent Microsoft’s dominant position. Only Mozilla has been successful in snatching a small chunk of the industry from Microsoft.
But with the entry of Google, one can expect some serious browser wars now. And while “who should we be rooting for” in this war is still a matter of ‘economist’ speculation, one thing’s for sure - considering how Google is moving towards destroying Microsoft’s citadels step by step, the latter needs to be very very worried...
|
|
4Ps
|
|
|
| |
|
