Google designed and released its Chrome Web Store for one purpose: so users can purchase thousands of apps, extensions and themes for the Google Chrome web browser. The store (announced on Tuesday) will be featured prominently in Chrome, helping people discover great apps and developers reach millions of users around the world.
Incidentally, Google also released the beta version of its new Chrome operating system yesterday, as well as an early test version of its branded netbook. Chrome OS is an attempt by the search giant to help drive computing to the cloud — and to the popular web-based services that have become Google’s forté. With the Chrome Web Store, finding great apps for Google’s new cloud-oriented operating system is just a click away.
The store, which includes both free and paid apps, already has a great selection of non-generic apps to choose from. For example, the New York Times app, which was made for Chrome, and the Sports Illustrated Snapshot app, which provides one-click access to a plethora of high resolution images from college and professional sports. It’s expected that the store will soon be filled with thousands of apps for users to improve and personalize their internet experience, and ultimately, their operating system.
This year, the number of people using the Chrome web browser tripled from 40 to 120 million. The trick for Google, however, will be to lock-in their user base. Once users get used to downloading apps for their Chrome browser (the same way they do for their smartphones), they will inevitably think twice before switching to the latest and greatest version of Firefox of Internet Explorer.
Currently, the store is only available in the U.S., but will expand to many countries and currencies early next year, according to the Google Chrome Blog.
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Via: Chrome Web Store
