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Google announced today that it is releasing a version of its Google Chrome for the iPhone and iPad. The company says it will go live on the App Store later today. Macquarie analyst Ben Schacter predicted last month that Google Chrome was coming to iOS.
While Chrome for iOS will include a number of key features, including incognito mode and tab syncing across devices, the browser will still use Apple's WebKit-based engine required by the App Store developer guidelines. It also will lack the Nitro JavaScript engine that Apple uses to speed Safari's performance. But, there is one main obstacle to Chrome on iOS, as noted by The Next Web:
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 Drive -- the DropBox competitor released earlier this year -- also gained an iOS client. [App Store]
Update: Chrome for iOS is now live on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Keep your Google off my Apple devices
I am not a product
Don't download it?
Not that hard is it?
Competition leads to better browsers.
iOS Chrome requires iOS 4.3, while Android Chrome requires Android 4.0. Ironically that means that 99% of the iOS users can use Chrome, while only 10% of the Android users can.
About as ironic as the fact that iPhone 4(S) is supported on a 11 year old Windows OS but not on a 7 year old Mac OS.