As we all know by now, Google Chrome for Mac and Linux are now here, and despite the Mac version missing a few features at the moment, both are earning rave reviews around the web. Meanwhile, a report a couple days ago from Net Applications suggested that the Mac and Linux builds helped push Chrome into the number three browser spot in terms of usage, past Apple’s own Safari. And it could be on the verge of jumping even higher thanks to Google now promoting it on its homepage to all Mac users.
Across all the major web browsers that work on the Mac (Firefox, Safari, Opera, Camino), Google is now placing an overlay on google.com which reads “A faster way to browse the web” and includes a Chrome logo and a button that you can click to be taken to the Chrome for Mac download page. This shows up regardless of if you’re signed into your Google account or not. The only requirement is that you not being using Chrome. Clicking on the “X” will make the overlay disappear.
Google has been doing this same promotion for the PC version of Chrome for a while, and while the browser hasn’t exploded in usage to even Firefox level, it has been steadily rising since its launch last year. Its overall market share is now around 4.4% according to the Net Applications data, but on the Mac alone, just since the beta launch, Chrome has already risen one full percentage point. And you can likely expect that to jump quite a bit higher next month once the browser has been out for a while and people feel more comfortable switching to it.
Google continues to heavily promote Chrome in the real world too. Just yesterday, a bunch of ads for it were spotted in newspapers in the Netherlands. They’re doing the same thing in the UK as well. Google famously doesn’t advertise on its homepage, but it does promotions like this more and more frequently to push its own products. And this will undoubtedly help them hit the stated goal of 10% market share for Chrome in two years. I’m sure Mozilla and Apple are thrilled about it.
[thanks Dejan]