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"We will probably do distribution deals. We could work with Original Equipment Manufacturers and have them ship computers with Chrome pre-installed," Sundar Pichai, Google vice president of product management tells The Times.

After the early buzz surrounding its launch in September, Chrome's share of the browser market has slipped to 0.74%, according to figures from web metrics firm Net Applications. This is significantly behind Firefox on 20%, and Internet Explorer on 71%.

However, Pichai claims the company has held back on pushing the browser due to its beta status. That will change in January, he says, when Chrome is freed from its beta shackles, with versions for Mac and Linux set to follow in the first half of the year.

Any deal with manufacturers would certainly reignite interest, bringing it toe-to-toe with Microsoft which has a number of global distribution deals for Internet Explorer 7.

Read our review of Google Chrome here.