Chrome and Android May be the Biggest Weapons in Google’s Arsenal

When a respected financial publication like Barron’s releases analyst reports on tech companies it is probably worthwhile to listen. A short paragraph under their “Research Reports” section on September 24 highlights a Morgan Stanley finding that Android and Chrome may be two of Google’s biggest assets, despite more sexy Google products being touted by other analysts in the industry.
“They protect Google’s core advertising businesses and stabilize distribution payments. We reiterate our rating and set our target price at $789,” said the Barron’s piece.
Google’s Android system has helped contain the growth of Apple and Microsoft in the smartphone market, capturing two-thirds of overall sales.

Meanwhile, Linux Insider recently reviewed Chrome for Android chomping at the bit to see if it was possible to read a web page on a desktop computer and then continue reading it on an Android device.
The reviewer eventually got the above scenario working, syncing view pages across devices, but it was not exactly an intuitive process.
“The long answer, however, is this: You’ve got to make sure that both devices are set up properly and that you’re signed-in to both with the same Google ID.  You’ve also got to drill way down into the depths of the respective browser’s settings. Then you’ve got to read help pages that don’t appear to correspond to current versions.”
The reviewer also experienced issues with speed, noting sticky page scrolling, especially with bigger, dynamic sites; including those hosted on affordable web hosting platforms.
Besides synching viewed pages across devices, Google is also pushing ahead with support for iPhone 5 and touchscreen retina display support.
“Taking advantage of the iPhone 5′s larger display, Google rolled out updates for its Chrome web browser and Gmail mobile application for the iOS,” said blog, PopHerald. “The two apps now support the larger 4-inch Retina display of the Apple iPhone 5, so no more black bars whilst accessing your favorite websites using the most popular third-party web browser for iOS, Chrome.”
All these developments may explain why Chrome looks almost on the verge of overtaking Internet Explorer’s lead in the market. We say ‘almost’ because at one point StatCounter reported that this had actually happened, but then a rival reporting system, Net Applications, used a more conservative reporting method and gave IE the usual place at the top of the heap.
But what is apparent, mobile browsing is where most attention is centered. If Google can harmoniously connect Chrome to Android there may well come a point wherein Google Chrome becomes the world’s most dominant browser.