The “browser wars” are history. Everyone knows that…

So then why is Google launching a new browser called Chrome?

The answer is quite simple. “Chrome” really isn’t about bringing yet another browser alternative to the market. That would be pointless for a company like Google – they are already a key component of every major browser on the market.

Instead, it’s about bringing a Microsoft Windows alternative to the market…

This isn’t just the release of some gee-whiz technology from Google Labs. This is the next phase of a strategy Google has been playing out over the past several years.

With the launch of GMail, the acquisition of sites like Blogger/Picassa/Orkut/YouTube, the release of Maps, support for mashups, the development of a full online office suite, and the release of Gears, Google has been building up a portfolio of capabilities that – when combined with their core search capabilities – touches every aspect of the web ecosystem.

They are essentially packaging the web as a new type of Operating System…

When looked at in this context, developing their own browser makes perfect sense. Google is solving a part of their own their “last mile” problem by working to take control of the final link connecting users to their content and capabilities – the browser footprint. This is a big and necessary step for leveraging their dominance in search into the broader application platform space.

But it isn’t the final one…

I expect Google to aggressively integrate Chrome into their Android platform. This will probably launch under the guise of providing an optimized mobile experience, which will no doubt be the case. But it will also be the first step in moving Android upstream. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some early ports of Android over to a couple of the more popular ultra mobile computing platforms starting to come on to the market – devices that blur the line between laptop and phone. This is a broad category, and will likely be the highest growth component of the computer market over the next several years. They can gain serious market share simply by being a more attractive platform in this space than Windows Mobile – something that isn’t that hard to do. And with devices like the iPhone validating the viability of application delivery in this space, it is clear that the market is open to moving in a new direction.

Don’t judge your first experience with Chrome in terms of it being just a browser. It isn’t.

There’s a lot more going on here than a simple play for browser market share. This is a “hearts and minds” battle for the future direction of computing, taking place between the two largest players in the market. This is completely different from anything we saw during the “browser wars”.

And this time around, Microsoft’s luck may be running out…