Through Google’s first-ever distribution alliance, Sony’s Vaio PCs will ship with Chrome included.
In a company statement, Google said it also was in talks with other computer makers to further its distribution-boosting efforts. The company also said it has made Chrome available to Internet users who download the RealPlayer software and is planning to advertising on television — another first for the company.
Brian Rakowski, Chrome’s product management director, in a report said Chrome has 30 million active users, which totals about 2 percent of all Internet users.
While reaching only a fraction of Internet users, Rakowski said Chrome’s objective is to inspire greater development in browser technology.
“It’s not so important everyone uses Google Chrome, it’s more important browser technology evolves as fast as it can,” Rakowski said. “Chrome set new records in terms of its speed, prompting a race among rivals to boost the performance of their own software.”
Google rolled out Chrome last September and positioned itself as a competitor to Mozilla’s open-source browser Firefox and an upgrade to all other browsers. The browser’s users’ guide noted traditional browsers use applications that depend on code structures, which can only run one at a time.
In June, developer versions of Chrome were made available for Mac and Linux operating systems.