Google Invests In Maxthon, Possibly Eyeing China

Google has reportedly made an investment in Maxthon, a web browser mod built on top of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, somewhere in the neighborhood of one million dollars. Details of the deal are not fully known, but Mike Arrington says it is part of a larger strategic deal. Maxthon has surprisingly large market share in China, with 30% of the browser market and 25% of all searches to competitor Baidu, so at the least Google’s deal will be a blow to major rival, as it would likely become the new default search in the browser.
Long term, Google could push features in the browser that would benefit its web services, much like the web apps features planned for the next major release of Firefox. Google already holds a lot of sway in Firefox development, employing several key FF team members, and controlling an IE alternative could prove very […]

Original post by Nathan Weinberg