Ask HN: What does Google gain by working on Chrome the browser?

[sergiotapia]

Do they guarantee a say in web standards to benefit themselves?

What do they gain by spending so many resources building a free web browser?

[pixeloution]

This is a big one: its a browser they don't have to pay to have google made the default search engine: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/14/google-paying-apple-3-billio...

It lets them use it as a jumping off point for some hardware: https://www.google.com/chromebook/find/?utm_source=en-ha-na-...

And it appears they now have an enterprise version: https://www.blog.google/topics/connected-workspaces/introduc...

I'm sure there's more, but I imagine, financially, I could have stopped after the first one.

[ocdtrekkie]

Google Search is the default search engine on Google Chrome. Ads on Google Search is where a large part of Google's billions of dollars comes from.

Ergo, Google Chrome is one of the most valuable properties Google has.

Thinks like being able to dictate how the rest of the Internet behaves by adding warnings on different things, removing certificates, blocking advertising competitors, determining web standards, etc. are all just side perks.

[davidthewatson]

Chrome has enabled Google to move beyond the link as the primary currency of authority (PageRank) and toward click-throughs as a more robust proxy with respect to search rankings, ads, etc.

[nieksand]

Google has slowed the adoption of ad-blocking by not making it a default in Chrome. That's a huge win for their main revenue stream.