Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt told industry analysts that the online search engine leader is unlikely to create its own web browser, even though the company remains worried about being slighted by the next version of Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer.
During a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Schmidt dismissed speculation that the company aimed to tie together its Web search and other services to compete with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the world’s dominant web browser.
"It looks like people have some good browser choices already," Schmidt said. "We would not build a browser for the fun of building a browser," he added.
Schmidt said Google sees little need to develop its own browser because most people seem satisfied with Explorer and rivals such as Firefox, Apple Computer Inc.’s Safari and Opera.
Google encourages its customers to use a variety of alternatives to Internet Explorer, particularly the open-source Firefox browser.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Google already has a search toolbar installed in Firefox as part of its partnership with the Mozilla open source software project that introduced the browser in 2004.
However, Schmidt left the door open to developing a browser if it saw some clear utility to users that was not otherwise being met in the market. "We would only do something … if we thought there was a real end-user benefit," he said.
Later in the call, Schmidt reiterated Google’s concerns about Microsoft programming the next version of its Internet Explorer to steer more traffic to its own Internet search engine.
Google informally complained to the U.S. Justice Department about Microsoft’s plans, but regulators decided they did not need to intervene. Schmidt said Google still hopes Microsoft will make it easier for Explorer users to set up other search engines in the browser.
The next version of Explorer will be included in Microsoft’s Vista, a long-awaited upgrade of the Windows operating system due out next year.
"We want to make sure the use of the power of Windows is done in a correct and legally appropriate way," Schmidt said.
Google reigns as the dominant Internet search engine with a 43 per cent share of the U.S. market through April, well ahead of Yahoo Inc. at 28 per cent and Microsoft’s MSN at 13 per cent, according to comScore Media Metrix.
The Google executive has consistently downplayed questions about its ambitions to develop its own browser software by saying that the underlying assumption is that Google is taking up the battle that web browser pioneer Netscape Communications Corp. lost to Microsoft during the 1990s.
Google covered familiar territory, telling analysts to expect major investments heavily in new computer equipment and offices to accommodate the company’s growing audience and work force.
Chief financial officer George Reyes said Google’s hiring spree will continue at its recent pace, which has been increasing the company’s work force by 14 per cent to 20 per cent every three months. In the past year, Google nearly doubled its payroll to just under — 6,800 employees through March.
Schmidt argues that the landscape of the computer industry has been changed by the dynamics of web search advertising and the decade-old "battle for the desktop" waged by Microsoft and its competitors is quickly becoming less relevant.
The company spent $345 million US on capital expenditures during the first quarter, including $112 million on information technology assets and $41 million on land and buildings.