Google’s shock entry into the browser market might be bad news for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, but it could be terminal for Mozilla and Firefox.
Google is Mozilla’s sugar daddy. In 2006 (the latest figures we have available), a staggering 85% of Mozilla Corp’s revenue came from the homepage and search deal it has with Google. Firefox is almost entirely dependent on the company that’s just launched what could easily become its biggest rival.
Mozilla might therefore be thanking its lucky stars that just last week Google signed a three-year extension to that Firefox search deal. But why, knowing full well that it was about to launch a competitor, did Google decide to continue propping up Mozilla?
Aside from the fact that cutting ties with Firefox would have instantly wiped hundreds of millions of hits from Google’s search, Mozilla is now Google’s insurance policy. If Chrome fails, Google can maintain its tight-knit relationship with Firefox. If Chrome succeeds, Google can pull the plug on its Mozilla deal.
Which gives Mozilla three years to find a new benefactor. But which other search company would be prepared to pump money into Firefox? Microsoft’s about as likely to bankroll a rival as George Bush is to host an open-top parade through the streets of Baghdad. Yahoo, meanwhile, is now so closely aligned to Google that it’s practically unthinkable that it will step into the breach. Which leaves the minnows such as Ask, who certainly won’t be stumping up the tens of millions Google deposits in the Mozilla vaults every year.
Mozilla either needs to find a new way to make money. Or start cutting its cloth to suit a much tighter budget.
Tags: Ask, browsers, Chrome, firefox, Google, Mozilla
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September 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
Tough break, I for one would be curious enough to at least try a google browser, despite an allegience to Firefox….
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Good blog post, Barry
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Considering that Chrome uses code from the Mozilla code-mill, I don’t think that Google will have a problem with it, in the short term at least.
At this point they both need each other.
The same is true of the WebKit engine it uses, that comes from the KDE team, now supported by Apple…
September 2nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
But will people use a Google browser? I’m sure a lot of people are getting more than a bit wary of Google by now - and will be very reluctant to switch from Firefox - me for one. Of course, if Mozilla can’t afford to do anything for lack of funds, then that’s a different thing.
I think it’s distinctly possible that Google will just help Microsoft consolidate its position as market leader.
September 2nd, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Goodbye Firefox it was fun…
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 pm
I respectfully disagree with you, Barry, with the title of your article, and the fact that you imply that Chrome success would mean that Firefox has lost its usefullness for Google, and that losing revenues for Google would be damaging for Mozilla.
1. Mozilla is simply not a competitor to Google. Google has not anything to fear from Mozilla, because, even if they are launching a browser, they don’t get much of it being used more than Firefox.
2. Google has money to spend. It can afford giving bucks to Firefox.
3. Firefox, with new ideas such as Weave, Ubiquity, TraceMonkey (the latter which is especially important to web-apps performances), is a big innovator in the browser market. And anything than can improve browsers, which are the portals to Google web-apps, is good for Google.
4. Mozilla is beloved by a huge community. Google don’t want to be that evil, it makes no financial sense.
5. Chrome is open-source built onto Mozilla parts. Open-source mean that Mozilla can benefit from it by reusing the code. Mozilla part mean that the process of reusing code is eased for Mozilla. It would also suggest that Chrome will benefit for advances made by Mozilla, making it interesting for Google to keep Mozilla well-funded.
I’ll bet that right now, Google has not any plans to pull the rug out from under Mozilla’s foot in three years - but no one knows how the situation will change in three years, I’ll give you that.
Besides, Mozilla has carefully saved most of the money Google gave them. As so, they have money (even as a rent) for years to come.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:29 am
Fabien,
Thanks for your comments. I agree, Internet Explorer is more of a target for Chrome than Firefox.
Nevertheless, Google is a business not a charity. I can’t see it continuing to dish out tens of millions of dollars to Mozilla for a search deal in three years’ time if Chrome has given it sufficient market share to not make such a deal worth its while.
If it makes commercial sense for Google to cut off Mozilla’s oxygen supply, it will. No matter what its motto says.
Barry Collins
Online Editor
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Please note Gmail is still a Beta
This browser nice as it may be is still a Beta
They both need each other and both work on the same ‘like’ projects / code.
They will continue to work together for the next three years and even after that might even merge as one - who knows this might be the case.
September 5th, 2008 at 1:13 am
to see them merge will be like amazing!
the web will grow 10 fold
if were luck we might even see Microsoft get blown to the southern hemisphere