Google is supposedly planning to compete with Apple’s own Safari browser by releasing a version of its Chrome Web browser for iOS devices. According to Macquarie Equities Research, the launch of Chrome for iOS on the App Store could come as soon as this quarter.
The debut of a Chrome browser would be igniting a modern browser war on mobile devices, similar to the “Browser Wars” of the late 1990s between Internet Explorer and Netscape. When it comes to third-party browsers for the iOS platform, all of the browsers must be based on WebKit, which is Apple’s own open source browser engine. The existing versions of Google Chrome, available for Android, Mac, and Windows, are already based on the WebKit layout engine so this should be an easy transition.
Analyst Ben Schacter of Macquerie said Chrome for PCs has been a “home run” for Google, as it has “significantly” reduced desktop traffic acquisition costs for the search giant. He expects that Google will launch a major marketing campaign to hype the debut of Chrome for iOS in the near future. The company has run television promotions for Chrome for desktops for some time, featuring several high profile celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, which all helped contribute towards quadrupling the company’s advertising budget in the U.S. last year.
As of right now, Google has released a mobile version of Chrome for its Google Play application store in February but continues to ship Android based operating devices with a generic browser. The free software still remains in beta but has been well reviewed thus far. We’ll have to wait and see how successful Chrome for iOS will be. Although it may seem redundant to have another web browser, having the option to choose between several apps never hurts.
Source: Macquarie Equities Research
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