As I am sure almost everyone knows, Chrome is Google’s fairly recently released browser. Up till now, Google has done little to promote it after its initial release, leading me to believe that Chrome was never intended to be a major browser, but rather a way of pushing other browsers to deal better with web applications.

Today Google’s VP of Product Management said this:

“We will probably do distribution deals. We could work with an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and have them ship computers with Chrome pre-installed.”

This is really an interesting quote, since it suggests that Google is very serious about promoting and marketing Chrome as a serious competitor, which it can no doubt be if Google throws its weight to the cause. This raises the question again of what Google’s true intention for Chrome is. I don’t think that this announcement rules out simply trying to get better support for web applications in every browser, but it does put things a little closer to Google trying to dominate the market position.

The real answer will probably lie in Google’s deal with Mozilla, in which Mozilla is paid for Google searches made through the search box. If Google leaves this deal in place, it is likely that Google is not really angling to become the market leader. If, on the other hand, Google terminates the deal when it can, that would be a strong signal that it does intend to take over the market.

While I still believe Google is probably not going to terminate this deal, since I don’t see why it would want to be in the browser business, I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.