There’s some speculation that Google may end it’s funding for Mozilla, the company responsible for the world’s second most popular browser, Firefox. We’ve rounded up a few articles we found interesting and present them here for you.
From Digital Trends: According to the company’s 2010 audited financial statement (PDF) the organization pulled in just over $123 million during 2010, a revenue increase of over 18 percent from 2009. However, of that $123 million in income, more than $121 million came from “royalties,” which is the category that would encompass partnerships with search-engine companies.
It’s obvious that Mozilla is in some kind of trouble without Google’s funding. So what are Google’s motives here? From Infopackets: Some cynical analysts note that pulling funding at this point could deal a major blow to Firefox, helping Google establish its own dominance among browsers now that Chrome has outpaced Firefox’s market share.
From Geek.com, just because Google could elect to not fund Mozilla anymore doesn’t make them awful; just smart business people: The reason Google may not renew the search deal is because its Chrome browser is doing so well. It has just passed Firefox in the web browser usage charts, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google save $100 million and tell Mozilla to go look elsewhere.
What do you think? Will Google tell Mozilla to “go look elsewhere”? Should it? Tell us in the comments.