Google Introduces Chrome Browser and Google Drive for iOS

Google Chrome iPhone

Google Chrome iPhone

On Thursday, Google announced that they are bringing their popular Chrome browser as well as their Cloud service, Google Drive to iOS. Following the announcement, Google released an iOS app, condensing a number of features from the full sized browser and packing them into the app. Some of the main features brought over include incognito mode and tab syncing across devices.

The browser, although being entirely developed by Google still relies on Apple’s WebKit-based engine, which is required by Apple’s SDK. Google Chrome for iOS seems like the perfect addition to Apple’s successful iPhone, however, according to a report from NextWeb, the one setback of the app is that users cannot use Google Chrome as the default browser on the iPhone.

The biggest hurdle that Chrome features, of course, is that it cannot be set to be the default browser on iOS devices, a capability that Apple also reserves for Safari. So, while you can use the browser to your heart’s content, it will not be the default handler for any URLs clicked. That’s a huge hurdle to overcome.

Google’s Chrome Browser is great for users that also use the Chrome browser on their computer and want an easy way to transfer their bookmarks or want to be able to access their computer settings on their iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Alongside the Chrome browser, Google also released a Google Drive app, the cloud service the company introduced several months ago. Both the Chrome browser and the Google Drive app are currently available in the App Store.

{via MacRumors}

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One Comment on ““Google Introduces Chrome Browser and Google Drive for iOS”

  1. Alex Martelli

    Anyone remember the whole giant Microsoft monopoly lawsuit thing?  Is it not so that not allowing other browsers to be the “default” browser of the system, be an unfair use of Apple’s dominance in one sector (smartphones) to push them into another sector (browsers)?  Is this not the exact thing that Microsoft was getting in trouble for?

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