Does the world need yet another Web browser? Google thinks so and planned to make its beta version of the door to the World Wide Web available on Tuesday.
Google did not say what time Tuesday the new browser, dubbed Chrome, would be downloadable in more than 100 countries. But analysts were to get a sneak peak at Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters at 11 a.m. Pacific time, according to Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Research.
“Until people really have a chance to download and use Chrome, it’s difficult to say whether or not it’s going to be a significant player,” Sterling said, noting Google’s servers could crash in the wake of millions of people trying to download the new browser. “Chrome could have a Safari-like share, an Opera-like share, or less. Then again, Google has some pretty massive distribution and it could gain adoption globally.”
Google’s Mandate: Improve Browsing
Google said it is launching Chrome because the company believes it can add value for users and help drive innovation on the Web. Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, Google’s engineering director, said the concept for Chrome stems from a discussion about what kind of browser could exist if they started from scratch and built on the best elements available.
Google used components from Apple’s WebKit and Mozilla’s Firefox, among others, and the company is making all its code open source. Google said it hopes to collaborate with the entire Internet community to help drive the Web forward.
“We realized that the Web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser,” Pichai and Upson wrote on the Google blog. “What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for Web pages…