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Google claims Chrome is the world's most popular browser

Apple targeted with Chrome and Drive builds for iOS

Google I/O Google has been shouting the praises of its newly patched Chrome on the second day of its I/O developer conference, and is claiming that Chrome is undoubtedly the world's most popular browser.

"According to all the metrics and everything we see out there, Chrome most is the most popular browser," said Sundar Pichai, VP of Chrome applications, during his opening keynote presentation.

Pichai said Chrome is now being regularly used by 310 million people, doubling the number of users announced at last year's conference. Over 60 billion words are typed every day on Chrome browsers, he said, with over a terabyte of data saved every 24 hours.

To extend this further, Google is releasing a version of Chrome for Apple's iOS and will be looking to replace Safari use on iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touch devices. The new code will allow the same synchronization and sharing systems found on the existing browser and Google is looking to win over new users with more features to come further down the line.

Apple's cloud ambitions are also getting some more compatition, as Google is also releasing a version of its online cloud storage service Drive for Cupertino's mobile operating system. It also made Google Docs editable offline, a much needed addition.

Chrome made headlines when internet monitoring firm StatCounter ranked it as the number one browser, after months of creeping up the rankings. The company cited the global spread of Chrome, which is outweighing the preponderance of Internet Explorer in the Western world. However, this provoked a bitter war on words with Redmond.

Microsoft has been watching the progress of Chrome with concern, and decided to get its retaliation in first. In a March blog post, Roger Capriotti, a director on the IE team, called foul on StatCounter's figures showing Chrome was ahead, with a lengthy blog post decrying the results and suggesting people look at the competitor company, NetApps, which still has IE as the top dog.

This didn’t go down well with StatCounter, which published a lengthy rebuttal of Capriotti's claims, accusing him of using flawed logic and cherry-picking statistics to suit Microsoft. For example, the Redmond-approved methodology bundles all third-party browsers that use the IE engine, like Maxthon, with IE's figures, which gives the browser a boost.

"Remember Roger - we have absolutely no problem with you or with Microsoft or IE... our problem is with misleading and biased information being published under the guise of a fair and balanced analysis," said StatCounter. ®

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