Chrome Kingpin Pichai Promises Android Upgrades

In an interview Chrome leader Sundar Pichai promises that the Android version of the browser will be updated at a pretty healthy pace. After the release of the Chrome for Android beta which is available only for Ice Cream Sandwich OS at the moment, it has been downloaded between 100 000 and 500 00 times and Google expects that it will soon make money directly from the browser itself.

Under the leadership of Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai, though, Chrome dramatically extended its reach. One in five people use Chrome, according to Net Applications. Google uses the browser to push its technology agenda, even when its ideas are unpopular with colleagues in the Web standards world. Chrome is the foundation of the Chrome OS operating system, Google just released Chrome for Android, and under Chief Executive Larry Page, Chrome is one of ten Google divisions. The Chrome Web Store lets people spend money on Web apps. And reflecting the prominence the browser has inside the company, Chrome ads appear on billboards, in subway stations, on TV.

Long gone are the days when merely encouraging browser innovation was a sufficient goal. Chrome has become one of Google's most important brands and a gateway to its services.

And there are more plans afoot--including improvements to Chrome for Android and making more money directly from Chrome. Pichai described the work in an interview last week with CNET News writer Stephen Shankland.