New Sony Vaio PCs Will Include Google Web Browser

Google Chrome, languishing in the browser wars, will get a substantial boost thanks to a deal with Sony—which is shipping new Vaio PCs with Chrome pre-installed. Google is also talking to other computer manufacturers, the FT reports, as it attempts to weaken the dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, which commands 68% of the field. Google Chrome, despite good reviews from techies, has only a 2% share after a year.

Google has trumpeted Chrome as a success, noting that 30 million people use it to browse online. But Chrome has had a far slower start than Mozilla Firefox, which had an 8% share after one year and is now used by about 25% of PCs. Google has been frustrated by low interest among Web users, who seem not to compare browsers' features. "Awareness is shockingly low," he said. "It’s absolutely a problem that people don’t know what a browser is, or how to evaluate one." (More Google Chrome stories.)