If you’ve been anywhere near an Internet connection today you’re bound to have heard that, after years of speculation, Google has announced it is releasing its own web browser, Chrome.
The Strategy Lesson
In his post Chrome, Android, and The Cloud Fred Wilson explains why Google developing a browser is a good strategic move, noting:
A journalist friend of mine once said about Google "they are a freak of a company, the best advertising business ever built is funding the largest collection of mad scientists ever assembled". I love that description of Google and have used it many times. But it suggests that Google is chaos and I don’t think that is true at all.
Google is building a collection of web apps, like gmail, gcal, and google docs, that businesses are increasingly relying on… Google understands that the infrastructure for the deployment and operation of web apps just isn’t there yet.
And so they are doing something about it…
He goes on to explain what they are doing and closes with:
It is on this three legged stool (browser, mobile, cloud) that Google’s future will be built. And sitting here today, it seems like they are well organized and have a great strategy for doing just that.
I have to agree it does seem that Google have a well thought out strategy and Chrome is in all probability going to increase their market share. This is especially noticeable in the UK where Patrick Alcroft is predicting that Google Chrome Will Be Bigger Than Firefox by Christmas on the basis of Google’s 90% share of Internet Search in the UK.
The Communications Lesson
The launch of Google Chrome also provides a great lesson in corporate communication, there’s no need for it to be a long, dull or wordy press release. In fact Google chose to spread the word about Chrome using comic book.
It’s well worth a look and it might well give you some ideas on how to improve your businesses corporate communications. They also perfectly demonstrated how to create hype and excitement around a launch, although I doubt many small businesses or startups will be able to duplicate their success.
This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
Google want to be all things to all men it seems, but strange how we love them still (in the UK) but hate Microsoft, just for being themselves!
I’m not sure I’d agree with either of those two assertions. There’s elements of each company that I dislike and some good products/services provided by each too.