Google's Chrome browser to be available on Apple's iPad, iPhone

By Alexei Oreskovic and Gerry Shih

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc's Chrome, the world's top Internet browser, is now available on the iPhone and iPad, as Apple Inc finally granted access to its arch-foe's more popular Web-surfing app.

At Google's annual I/O developer conference in San Francisco on Thursday, company executives announced the development as well as a limited launch of a cloud-computing and hosting service to take on Amazon.com's thriving Web services arm.

Both moves underscore how Google is moving quickly to safeguard its dominant Internet presence.

Launched in 2008, Google's browser overtook Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer in May as the world's most popular, according to analytics company StatCounter.

"No matter which device you're using, we are working really hard across all important software platforms," Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai said. "We want to make sure it's about the user."

Chrome has 310 million "active" users, Pichai said. Google's browser, along with Google Drive, the cloud storage service, will begin appearing in Apple's App Store for download later on Thursday, Google said.

Apple, which closely manages its App Store offerings, is making the concessions to its heated competitor even though it is seeking to lessen its dependency on Google's Web services within its products. Earlier this month, the phone and tablet manufacturer said it would load its own home-built mapping service, instead of Google Maps, in the next version of its mobile operating system.

The move heightened competition with Google, which has made inroads in making hardware that could challenge Apple products.