Google Chrome for iPhone & iPad to Release Soon

Google Chrome may be coming to iOS soon. The popular desktop browser is already available for Android. According to reports, Chrome for iPhone & iPad may be hitting the App Store soon. Once the app gets approved, it will be competing directly with Apple’s Safari for iOS.

There are already plenty of browsers available on the App Store. SkyFire, Opera Mini and Dolphin are some of the popular browsers for iOS that are already available.

Having it’s iOS app is important for Google if it wants to maximize the search revenue coming from iPhone and iPad. Apple keeps 50-60 percent of the revenue that is generated from the searches done on Safari browser. Google is currently the default Search Engine on Mobile Safari.

Despite of the fact that plenty of browsers are available in the App Store, none of them can be default browser. Considering the restrictions on iOS, no browser other than Safari can be the default iOS browser. So it won’t be a level playing field for Chrome to start with. Whenever a user clicks on a link, it will open in Safari. This is the same situation that was with Windows in late 90s. Internet Explorer was default browser on all Windows PCs. It changed over years though, and now users get to choose the default browser on their PCs. Whether the same thing happens for iOS or not is yet to be seen.

According to Macquarie Equities Research, Google Chrome for iOS may be available for download in few weeks.