Chrome's Global Creep

It's not secret that Chrome, Google's Web browser, has been a big, public bust. Maybe that's why Google has been so quiet about its latest efforts to fix the bugs that dismayed so many critics. As ComputerWorld's John Brandon notes, the company quietly unveiled a new beta 3 version of Chrome, which reorganized some of the format and repaired a number of flaws that interfered with Web-surfing and flashed bizarre pop-ups on your screen. But, Brandon points out, "there wasn't a lot of fanfare."

Maybe that's because the U.S. isn't Chrome's target market. Silicon Alley Insider's Eric Krangel notices that while Google's American search page didn't promote Chrome with nearly the same enthusiasm it did the G1 phone, its Japanese search page hawks Chrome much more eagerly, cluttering up its famously black page with widgets for Chrome, YouTube, and Gmail. Krangel also points out Chrome billboard ad campaigns in Taiwan. Could Google be focusing on the overseas market for its Web browser? In any case, Krangel doubts Chrome's marketing efforts will pay off until the company gets independent developers to create add-ons for the browser, pays PC manufacturers to install it on their machines, and builds a Mac version.