Google Edging Microsoft in a battle it can Net escape

Key product lessons from this post:

1. Do not assume the customer knows about the value of your product, find ways to educate them. Make use of every touchpoint available without being (overly) intrusive.
2. Make it easy for customers to adopt your product
3. It is easier to retain old customers than to win them back once you have lost them

As a product-focused and naturally curious person, I draw my inspirations from my virtual and physical surroundings: the apps I use, web pages I visit, devices around me and the physical stores I go to. I pay keen attention to how each of these entities proffer solutions to their clients; from their interface, communication style and design, to their visual cues and product demonstrations.

Just recently, I found both fun and a product case study in my web browser! Surprisingly, not from browsing the web, but merely just attempting to. I noticed a constant, almost child-like, yet interesting battle for customer attention and product adoption between Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

?It all started when I clicked on the pop-up prompt on Google Chrome, asking me to make it my default browser. On clicking the message, I expected it to be a "click and move on with your life" type of activity, but Windows was having none of that. Windows took me to a page where I could choose to switch from the native Microsoft Edge browser to Google Chrome. When I selected the option, I was again expecting an instantaneous switch, however Windows brought up a message telling me about the benefits of Edge and asking me to try it out before making my decision.

Given that I was operating on a Windows-based laptop with a Windows-based Edge web browser as the default browser, I could understand Microsoft's reluctance to give up its spot without a fight. However, I had unconsciously associated the Edge browser with its clunky memory-hogging ancestor - Internet Explorer (IE) - and never even gave it a chance. It also didn't help that the logo had stylistic similarities with the “E” design form of IE. Nostalgia maybe?

Image Source: algomas.com.au

Out of curiosity, I decided to try out the Edge browser. As I opened it, I noticed a "Chromium" feel to it: it was responsive and dissimilar from the IE I once knew. Things started to get a little more interesting when I opened my Gmail on Edge. I noticed a pop by the top right recommending a switch to Google Chrome. Just for the fun of it, I clicked the conveniently highlighted option and I was taken to the Chrome download page.

I had the latest update of Chrome installed and I thought it would have been safer for Google to shorten the customer journey by triggering the Chrome app to launch or/and at least perform a scripted app/version check. Still in my exploratory mode, I tried an alternative option by searching for "download Google Chrome" on the default Bing search bar just to poke some fun at Microsoft, and the first message on the screen was "There is no need to download a new browser" ??

Image source: Bing Search

I ignored the advice and opened the Chrome download page. Immediately, another notification popped up that read "Microsoft Edge Runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft".

Image source: Author’s Screenshot

Microsoft was definitely not going down easily and was putting up a heroic fight. So I went another step further and opened Google.com. This time around, it was Google's turn to swing and I received a pop up that read "Like using Google? Switch your settings to always search with Google". It was also accompanied with a detailed walk-through video that was set on autoplay with a PIP option to dovetail me all across the web.

To a casual user, all these may have felt like mere pop ups to be clicked away. But as a product person, I could feel the ground shaking from the tussle of two tech behemoths fighting for product adoption. I was constantly imagining myself on the product team of each of these products, engaging in brainstorming sessions, grooming and regrooming backlogs, scanning the competitive market space, gathering data on the success rate of each of these various touchpoints and the constant cycle of improvement.

I could imagine the flow of ideas pinging back and forth during the daily stand ups and retrospectives, and the complex webs of ideas on the brainstorming canvas. I could imagine the role playing sessions of "What would Chrome/Edge do", and the toll on the midnight oil.

From a product vision standpoint, it may be more of a chess game, but these granular activities with the constant shirt pulling with the pop up and reminders felt more like a game of ping pong. So I did a quick research and according to Statcounter and Oberlo, I noticed that Google Chrome expectedly holds a significant market share which stands above 60%, with Edge only capturing less than 5%.

Image source: Statcounter

Surprisingly, in an experiment performed by Sean Riley of Laptopmag.com in 2021, using the standard web browser benchmarking tool (WebXPRT 3), Edge had the edge on the dimensions of performance, memory usage and security, while Chrome "edged" Edge out?in terms of extensions and support. Digital Trends also labelled Edge as the web browser with the most potential, while Techradar rated it higher than Chrome in terms of security and speed. The security dimension was always going to be a tough one for Chrome to win given Google’s large appetite for user data to feed its predictive AI.

?The irony of it all is that Microsoft Edge is built using Chromium - an open-source web browser project developed by Google. Secondly, strategic as it is for Microsoft, it's such a long way from the overarching dominance of IE in the 90s. The tables have turned and Microsoft now finds itself on the other side of the battle. I guess this is a fate it can Net escape this time around.

?As a final note, I would have expected the Edge logo to be completely different from the legacy IE logo given the already-ingrained consumer perception of IE. I accept my ignorance for not even bothering to recognize its existence on my desktop since forever. But I guess I subconsciously just assumed it was same ol' IE with a facelift. It also didn’t help that the color of the Edge logo somehow fades into the default blue Windows background and doesn’t catch the eye like its other competitors.

Image source: Author’s Screenshot

This image of Homer Simpson comes to mind when I imagine the way the logo fades into the background as shown in the previous screenshot of my desktop.

For now, I would continue to test out the functionalities of the Edge browser and also take notes as a product-oriented person. But just one day of usage and I sort of feel like Edge has this extra spring to its step. Could it be that I may be subconsciously rooting for the underdog?

Regardless of the outcome years down the line, it still represents a win-win scenario: a Google-based Microsoft browser. From this perspective, the interpretation of the header thus becomes subjective: collaboration or competition?

Collabattle maybe? ignore my lame attempt at a word.

Refer to key product lessons above