In February of 2011, Chrome had achieved a 10% market share, nearly doubling their consumer usage in just one-year’s time. In fact, of all the web browsers Chrome is the only one that is consistently seeing steady user increases and has been for two years now. Then, by August of this year, Google chrome announced that they had quickly reached 30 million users, placing them in an elite group of one of the top three web browsers worldwide. While Internet Explorer and Firefox are still said to be in the lead, the gap is closing quickly and many people are curious about how they achieved such a high percentage of the market share so quickly.
Experts say that one appeal may be the minimalist approach of Google Chrome. Many users like its interface and find it easier to navigate with less bells and whistles than other popular browsers. Additionally, for non-tech geeks, Google Chrome automatically updates itself on a continuous basis which makes it user friendly and maintenance free. Even though Firefox and Internet Explorer are deemed better in terms of matching searches with relevant page material, Google Chrome is becoming vastly popular.
Another big reason, and perhaps the biggest reason that Google Chrome has been able to achieve such impressive market share is because it is backed by the name Google. If you were to ask layperson computer users, many would not know about the popular browser Firefox, and wouldn’t be able to tell you which version of Internet Explorer they use. Yet chances are high, they would all know about Google. People trust Google, and with such a high web presence it has been easy for them to acquire customers that used other browsers automatically.
But there’s still more to the story. In recent months, many people have realized albeit secretly, that with Adobe downloads, comes an automatic version of Google Chrome. It seems that Adobe has partnered with Chrome, making chrome an automatic download when customers utilize the software. One reason that Adobe would do this to begin with is because Google chrome has been integrated to automatically update Flash player (used on practically every site), which makes maintaining customer user ability easier and more cost effective for Adobe. The other popular web browsers have yet to do the same. This ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’ approach is healthy for the business of both software giants.
And instead of using an ‘opt in’ feature that would require customers to specifically agree to the download, they require customers to opt out. (Which few people do) And since most customers, especially those NOT in the tech market, allow the download of Adobe and Google, Google chrome easily gains unsuspecting new users. Experts say that it’s easy for Google to do so because so many people trust and respect the brand name of Google. What happens next is that computer users are automatically and inadvertently switched from their normal browser to Google Chrome. Many experts disagree with this sneaky approach to gaining customers and feel that it is simply another way of adding unnecessary software to people’s computers without their knowledge. Yet Google stands behind their partnership with Adobe, and feels adamant that they have a web browser that will soon rank number one. Only time will tell.
