Here’s a delightfully cheeky approach to building market share against a dominant opponent.
Google, seeking to win over Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) users to its new Google Chrome browser, has launched Google Frame, an IE plugin that runs Chrome inside IE.
According to research last month, IE retains a healthy 67 percent share of the browser market, Mozilla’s Firefox has 23 percent and Chrome holds just three percent.
You might have the best apples around, but it doesn’t really matter unless customers get to taste the difference themselves.
Initial benchmarking tests reveal that Google Frame increases the speed of IE by up to 10 times. You can watch Google’s introductory video here.
It’s a smart move by Google, which has come from the clouds to wage a war on several fronts against Microsoft’s entrenched market position.
Google Docs/Apps, an online alternative to Microsoft Office, and the Google Chrome web browser were preliminary salvos in Google’s battle to move our whole computer experience – from logon to shut down – into the cloud. The announcement that it is developing a web-based operating system – Google Chrome OS – means consumers will soon have even more reason to abandon Microsoft’s software products, including its original cash-cow, Windows. Meanwhile, online, Microsoft’s new Bing search engine is hardly challenging Google’s search dominance.
In response to the launch of Google Frame, Microsoft urged IE users not to install it… on the grounds that it makes IE less secure. Of course, not everyone agrees with this premise.
Interesting times.
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