Maxthon

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Maxthon

By: Mathew Ingram
2007-04-11

Everyone seems pretty excited at news that Google has invested a whopping $1-million (say it with a Doctor Evil sneer " its more fun) in Maxthon, the browser that seems to have taken China by storm.

Mike Arrington at TechCrunch says that its just part of a larger strategic arrangement between the two, and that set tongues wagging all over the blogosphere.

What does Google have in mind for Maxthon? What does this mean for Firefox? I dont think it means much of anything, to tell you the truth. And its not just the fact that $1-million is about what Google spends on anchovies for the free gourmet pizza they serve in the Googleplex cafeteria every Wednesday afternoon. I also cant see Google getting all worked up about a browser that is effectively an add-on for Internet Exploder Explorer.

And yes, I know you can change the rendering engine to Gecko (which powers the Firefox browser). Its still an add-on, or a front end, or whatever you want to call it. And yes, it has lots of cool features, and I know it had tabs before IE. Whatever. I think the main interest for Google is the Chinese angle, and the fact that converting Maxthons built-in search to Google power would be a foot in the door where Baidu currently dominates.

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About the Author:
Mathew Ingram is a technology writer and blogger for the Globe and Mail, a national newspaper based in Toronto, and also writes about the Web and media at www.mathewingram.com/work and www.mathewingram.com/media.


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