Ask HN: What does Google gain by working on Chrome the browser?
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?
What do they gain by spending so many resources building a free web browser?
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.
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.