It’s about time — Google’s shipping their own Web browser (Chrome).  

This is an extremely interesting development, and I’m surprised it’s taken this long to happen.  I’ve only played with Chrome only briefly so far, but it’s got some interesting features, reminding us there’s still room for innovation in browsers.

Those pushing the limits wth Web apps are always running into annoying browser limitations & bugs.   It’s even worse in a relatively fragmented browser market (FireFox in different versions, IE, Safari, Opera, etc.), each with slightly different capabilities.  This move gives Google end-to-end control over their destiny. 

Chrome is going to have to earn it’s chops in the market to get share, but the (potential) Google apps tie-in is what’s most intersting.  Google’s in a much stronger position than Microsoft was with IE — if/when the existing Google apps run better in Chrome, people will switch.