Within days of its release, the Chrome browser for iOS has become the top free app on iTunes. The news broke a day after Google said the Chrome browser was the world’s most popular browser. At the same time came the slightly disconcerting, to users, news that the Chrome browser was causing some of Apple’s new MacBooks to crash.
All this is happening as Google and Microsoft have made clear their separate intentions to try and get a piece of the tablet action, thus far a preserve of the iPad. Google has also made a concerted pitch to grab the price advantage, with its Nexus 7, which will start selling in July. Microsoft’s Surface is still some time away from launch.While hardware is a key part of the battle, the real test will be the app and content ecosystem. In that respect, the fight is heavily tilted in favour of Apple and Amazon. Getting the hardware out, therefore, will merely mark the start of a long hard graft for the tablet challengers.
