Google's Chrome: Brand new but not so shiny?*

Shortly after Google unveiled Chrome, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the new Web browser "represents some of the best Google can do." Then he encouraged everyone to try it.

But not many people are. Chrome gained market share within the first 24 hours of its release on Sept. 2, but since then it has given back much of those small gains to the leaders, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox, according to Vince Vizzaccaro, executive vice president of marketing and strategic alliances at Internet measurement firm Net Applications.

Chrome shot up to 1% of the market but has since fallen to 0.77% as of last week, according to Net Applications. Apple's Safari was not affected since Google has yet to release a version to run on the Mac operating system. Chrome is currently duking it out with Opera Software ASA's Opera for fourth place. Net Applications bases its findings on tracking the browsers of unique visitors to 2 million websites around the globe. As you can see in the accompanying chart, Chrome use spiked after it launched the week of Aug. 31 and rose a little the following week but then slipped.

"Chrome started off pretty fast and furious," Vizzaccaro said. "Within 24 hours they surpassed 1% of usage market share which was shocking and impressive. Since then, they have been slowly fading in market percentages. The trend has a slight downward angle to it."

Microsoft declined to comment other than to pump up its latest version of Explorer as "faster, easier, more safe and reliable than ever before."

Mozilla's John Lilly said it was premature to draw any conclusions. "It's only been three weeks," he said. "That's not a helluva lot of time. We don't know anything about anything yet." That said: "We are seeing lots and lots of users come back."

So, if users are returning to Explorer and Firefox, why? Are they not convinced that Chrome offers the speed or features that would get them to ditch their current browsers? Are they concerned about privacy? It's hard to tell, although Chrome gets more usage at night than during the day when people are at work using corporate-sanctioned browsers. A Google spokeswoman issued the following statement: "We're pleased with the response we've gotten from users thus far."

To reverse the slide, Google will have to market Chrome, Vizzaccaro said. Thus far, Google has settled for promoting it on its home page and sponsoring links on the Google and Yahoo search engines.

So far, there have been no announcements about deals with vendors such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard to get Chrome preloaded on personal computers. (That's how Microsoft trounced Netscape during the first browser wars back in the 1990s, although Firefox has captured market share without crafting such deals.)

But, like with most things Google, Chrome is not your ordinary browser. Consider how Schmidt described Chrome: "Chrome is more than a browser, it is a platform for applications," he said. "From my perspective, the Chrome announcement is the beginning of a new platform."

That platform will host Google's online applications such as word processing and spreadsheets to compete with Microsoft's lucrative office software empire.

-- Jessica Guynn

Market share graphic by Wil Ramirez / Los Angeles Times

Photo: Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Credit: Matthew Staver / Bloomberg News

* Post updated to explain why Chrome was showing up on the research firm's measurements Aug. 31 when the browser launched Sept. 2; the measurements covered the week of Aug. 31.

Comments

[katywon]

I really like Chrome, Beta Version. Once you get into it the program seems much faster. I think it takes a while to understand what exactly it is supposed todo.

[Barack O'donell]

I don't trust Google and I decided therefore that Chrome can definitely NOT be trusted.

[Mark]

The browser is NOT and never will be a PLATFORM.

The platform is what the browser runs on - it's amazing how 10 years after the boom people still understand very little about technology!

Fire Schmidt.

Ballmer in 2008.

[Farrel Buchinsky]

Chrome is a fantastic browser but I can no longer use it as my default browser for a few banal yet important reasons. I cannot drag and drop files to attach them to gmail. I cannot use roboform or syncronize passwords accross chrome at home and chrome at work. I cannot use Google Desktop search with Chrome. There are several other similar reasons which may or may not be resolved over time. If they are not resolved I will never use Chrome. If they are resolved then I will be back in a shot.

[Ian]

@Mark

Hmm.... The reason that Microsoft came out with IE, and then used it to kill Netscape was that it feared that Netscape might because the platform of the future.

[Ian]

I use chrome as my default browser. It works great for me, fast and feature rich. My only complaint is that when you download a file it doesn't give you the option to 'open' rather than just save.

[skip]

I use Chrome on Vista, XP Pro, and XP for about 95 percent of all net work. Once in awhile I will use IE for something not yet in Chrome. Chrome is far faster than IE on all my systems, and much easier to use. In my view, it is somewhat foolish not to use Chrome at all, when it is far faster and more efficient, for a few functions not yet in. Use both. This is not an either or situation.

[PJH139]

My reason for typing this on FF with IE up and running also looking at my latest Mystery Guild selections is simple. Chrome wasn't fast. In fact it was slower than Opera which was the slowest of all the browsers I have. It hadn't loaded google's home page by the time IE had loaded Pogo and I had played a Canasta game. I'm on dial up but come on... That is beyond slow.

And my OS is tweaked for speed not bells and whistles. In fact on everything I own it is tweaked to be very very fast with all the good bells and whistles disabled.

Bad google, no bone. I hate IE and I'm using it and my FF3. Google? I am not sure I retained Chrome at all. I'll have to look.

Add the ability to use Roboform and it will be an excellent browser

[Gubinsky]

My experience is that Internet Explorer is a viral conduit. Is Chrome a viral conduit? I haven't tried it yet as I'm a mac/linux user and have no viruses at all.

[yahoowizard]

Well, though I am an avid fan of Google Chrome, and have it set as my default browser, it still lacks that essential add-ons that FF3 got. Also, Google Chrome's been freezing and getting stuck frequently for periods of 1-3 seconds, and it's kind of annoying when playing games and things like that. Finally, I don't think Google advertised their browser enough. I'm at school and everything, and I doubt even 10 percent of the school know anything about this new browser. So, fix them bugs, get add-ons, and publicize your browser more, and you guys should be good...

[ricardo]

I downloaded chrome on release to try it out, but the fact that it tracks what i do is beyond scary. if it were simply a fast browser that didn't keep tabs on users that are stored on some server i'd definitely use it...

[Angelique]

I LOVE Google Chrome. It's faster than IE by far, and while it is true that plugins sometimes freeze Chrome will kill the plugin or frozen page instead of crashing and having to reboot.

I will never go back.

[Bob J]

Sorry I don't trust Chrome either. Firefox works fine and is much better than Chrome or IE.
IE is a big spyware sucker. IE is for lemmings and sheeple.

[everts garay]

Chrome is a good web browser. but let me tell you Opera it's better.
you should try it. and it's free.

[randy]

I really liked Google Chrome, but it just doesn't have full functionality YET. I keep hoping they'll update it with the non-functional parts fixed, but no word on that yet. I think it also interesting that they ask for feedback, but there's no place to put in your own information so they can provide responses, even though it says, "We'll get back to you if we need more information." HOW?

If they would just get the bugs fixed, start getting some add-ons/extensions - a-la FireFox, etc, I think it would kick butt...

[nobrainerdeals]

I agree, I dont really like Chrome. I dont really trust it either, plus why switch when Firefox is so good.

[Jorge]

As a 50 year old, I do not like Chrome for three reasons: it is way slower than Firefox 3 in my 6 Mbps DSL, it does not allow me to set privacy to automatically delete all cookies each time I close the browser, nor it allows me to use TrackMeNot to stop Google and all search engines to have any usable information about the sites I visit. I wonder what happened to the 'Do no evil' mantra .... for now, Firefox is the only browser that only cares for me, the user, not some software or information company. Enough said.

[Ujjal]

The application startUp time seems to much faster in case of Chrome than FF3. Another thing........ very important..... if i keep multiple tabs open for along time, FF3 takes a huge amount of memory, which Chrome has overcome, still needs to be tested.

[Scott]

MS crushed Netscape because they feared Explorer would bypass the desktop, which MS ruled, for the Internet, which it didn't control.. Fast-forward to the 21st century and, behold, MS's fears have come true. Not sure what Google's ultimate plans are for Chrome, but it seems connected to their whole "cloud computing" mantra.
I use FireFox & see no reason to change right now.

[Mark]

I'm Mark also and I agree that Chrome will not be a platform (operating system) as people have been predicting. Those predictions show a real lack of understanding about what an operating system actually does. The incognito mode, or "porn mode," might account for the greater usage at night. No plugins, no threat to Firefox. Check out Opera - it can read web pages to you through your speakers.

[Jennifer]

I did try chrome for a while but shortly went back to using Opera. Their Link option to coordinate favorites and history on mobile and desktop is something that I just can't find with other browsers. I also have a hard time thinking that google does too much with information it gathers from users.

[Stephen]

Chrome is fantastic, it gives you more viewing space, it has a clean UI, and it seems a bit faster. However, there are bugs here and there that make me feel as if the browser is causing me to miss something (besides ads). Work out the bugs and it'll be harmoniously wonderful communicationtopics.com

[Dave]

Count me in as a Chrome lover. It's fast, intuitive and the search/URL box is awesome. That being said, do others notice that YouTube videos freeze up or don't play audio often in Chrome? Weird. Shouldn't happen, but it does. Otherwise. Rock.