San Francisco — Search and advertising behemoth Google Inc., has inked a deal to distribute Chrome Web browser in Sony Computers to be sold in North America, clamping the company’s first such deal with a PC vendor since it introduced the Web browser last year to compete with Microsoft.
Sony began installing Chrome in PCs bound for North America in May, a Sony representative said. The deal was initially a test run for the two companies, but it could expand the reach of Google’s novice product which falls behind browsers offered by Microsoft Corp and the Mozilla foundation in market share.
Google spokesperson Eitan Bencuya said the deal with Sony went into effect this summer, but declined to give further details of the terms of the deal, such as which Sony PC models would be pre-installed with the Chrome browser, or any financial terms.
The deal with Sony was first reported by the Financial Times.
“Users’ response to Google Chrome has been very spectacular, and we are continuing to explore ways to make Chrome accessible to even more people,” Google said in a statement. “We are in the process of testing one such channel with Sony.”
Vaio P series … Google has struck a deal to have its Chrome web browser included with Sony Computers / Sony
John Piazza, a Sony spokesman in San Diego, did not immediately return calls seeking comment. Tokyo-based Sony said in May it will probably boost sales of its Vaio computers to 6.2 million units in the year ending March 2010 from 5.8 million a year earlier.
Google is attempting to expand the use of Chrome, released last year, the Sony deal marks a milestone step for Chrome into PCs. Launched almost exactly a year ago, the browser has had a rough time against rivals such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox.
Chrome is customized to run Web-based software such as spreadsheets and word-processing, which the company offers to businesses and consumers.
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer continued to dominate the market as leader in July with a 67.7 percent share of the browser market, compared to 22.5 percent for Firefox, 4.1 percent for Apple’s Safari and Google, which released the Chrome browser in September 2008, remains a distant number four player in the browser market, with a 2.59 percent worldwide share in July according to market research firm Net Applications.
But Bencuya said Google was looking at striking similar deals with other computer makers as well.
Sony chases computer giants like Hewlett-Packard Company and Dell in terms of sales, failing to claim a spot in the top five vendors by worldwide shipments in the second quarter, according to research firm IDC.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, dropped 0.7 percent to close at $461.67 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, narrowing this year’s gain to 50 percent. Sony shares declined to 1.2 percent to 2,485 yen at 10:13 a.m. in Tokyo trading.