Nearly everyone around the TechCrunch office is a Mac user, and we’ve been waiting rather impatiently for Google to port over its Chrome browser since its debut (for Windows only) last September. Google has been pretty quiet on when a Mac version might come out, and with Google’s I/O event this week we thought that there might be a chance that the search giant would finally release Chrome for Mac during one of its two keynotes.
Today’s keynote was a swing and a miss – we learned about Google’s web elements, new application features using HTML 5, and everyone in the audience got a shiny new GTC phone. But Chrome for Mac was nowhere to be soon. Should we expect more tomorrow?
TechCrunch IT Editor Steve Gillmor caught up with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and asked when we could expect Google Chrome for the Mac. Brin’s response? “I ask about that every other day.”
Brin says that Chrome for Mac is definitely coming along. The team measures its progress by how long it can get Chrome to run stably on their computers, and they’ve moved from a few minutes at a time up to a number of hours. But it doesn’t sound like it’s close to being finished. Brin could be playing coy, but it sounds like he wants this as badly as the rest of us.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you can always try out the in-development (and buggy) versions, though these obviously aren’t ready for public release.
Be sure to watch the rest of the video for more on Google’s experimentation with HTML 5 and YouTube.
We at http://www.rev2.org also tried to contact google to confirm this, and were unsuccessful finding out! We hope to be one of the first to learn
Thanks for slipping in the coy spam link.
I love Google Chrome… I want for my mac.
“Nearly everyone around the TechCrunch office is a Mac user”
as if we had to guess with all the anti-microsoft posts.
Yellow journalism at its best.
i guess us linux folks will have to wait even longer
I use Chrome and I love it.
I’ve been waiting for this day for months now!
JAMES
http://www.twibeo.com
Twitter on Steroids
I wouldn’t bank on it. I’m typing this from the latest nightly build of Chromium, and it’s working pretty well but isn’t complete yet. Unless Chromium for Mac and Chrome for Mac are separate branches, I don’t think we’ll be seeing a release tomorrow.
yes, ive also been using nightly builds, and it is close. Possibly an alpha stage release
Although there hasn’t been an official release to the public of Google Chrome for the Mac, I’m pretty sure Mac users can download the latest Chromium builds for OS X.
Sergey looks like he could use a little $leep!
Why would it take so long to build Chrome for the Mac?
While you’re waiting for Chrome on your Mac, check out Stainless (http://stainlessapp.com).
It’s by no means as feature rich as other browsers, but what it lacks in features it makes up in speed and stability.
I’ve been waiting for Chrome for a while too. I use it on my PC and I love it!
I found Stainless for Mac a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been using that pretty exclusively. It’s still in development, but it’s very Chrome-like. Runs fast and it has a few neat features. It’s not perfect and I still need to use Safari for some things but it’s great for what it is!
http://www.stainlessapp.com/
Why mess with Chrome when you have great options like Stainless instead? Check out http://www.stainlessapp.com/ and you’ll find a mac-specific attempt at individual tab-process browsing. It’s really fantastic and I highly recommend checking it out. Let’s face it, Google has made a sloppy commitment to the Mac platform and Chrome is a shining example of this!
If the in-development versions “aren’t ready for public release”, why do you think we’d be releasing? Do you think we’re hiding a secret Mac version that’s ahead of the open one? I genuinely don’t understand this post.
(Yes, I am a Chromium developer.)
Stainless is essentially Chrome for the Mac. Give it a go: http://www.stainlessapp.com/
Simply put, Google has not put enough resources on the task. It’s hard to believe that this much time has past since it’s initial Windows release (which I like by the way).
Man this interview was painful. Brin clearly didn’t want to talk as he went on to talk about mirrors and shit.
I love the bait, you know, video conference like APPLE!!!!! “i haddn’t heard the rumors”.
He did not want to talk at allllllllllllll
No one’s mentioned Stainless? (stainlessapp.com)
Been using it as my main browser for about a month. Love its speed and simplicity. And for being so young, it’s been way more stable than FF or Safari for me.
why chrome when i have the firefox ?i dont need it anyway.
Like many people already mentioned, Stainless is a great browser alternative to the chrome builds. Its far more stable and improving with every release. I use it to read my RSS feeds in google reader. I open a TON of tabs. Go here to get the latest weekly. http://stainles...com/doc/dev.htm
Forget Chrome. Download Stainless at http://www.stainlessapp.com
Stainless browser with tab (and bookmark)-specific cookies. Amazing.
I like chrome it’s a great application I’m surprised the great Mac was not already all over this. They seem to be the big trend setters lately
Recently shelved Safari (it just sucks) in favor of Firefox. Just like a well stocked sock drawer, I could always use another good browser alternative…
Come on Google. Feed the 3 squirrels you have working on Chrome for Mac so they have energy to concentrate on getting it done!
How many months does it take to implement a Mac version of the browser? Might want to take some pointers from Firefox or Safari?
I loved Chrome when I used it on my wife’s PC. Can’t wait to be able to use it on my Mac. And I want to use Chrome, not some knock-off.