Google Inks Toolbar Deal with Adobe

By Geoff Duncan Published June 22, 2006

Internet search engine Google and media software developer Adobe have announced a partnership whereby Adobe will distribute Google’s free Google Toolbar software with selected Adobe products, starting with the Shockwave player , interactive multimedia software which runs interactive software within Web browser windows. Under the terms of the deal, Google Toolbar will be offered to Internet users downloading Shockwave Player for Internet Explorer for Windows; Adobe and Google expect to extend the arrangement to other Adobe products in the future.

Adobe’s arrangement with Google supplants an agreement the company set up with Yahoo in October 2004 to distribute Yahoo search software with new downloads of the Shockwave player. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but Reuters reports Adobe characterizes the amount of money Google is paying as “significant.”

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Although not as ubiquitous as Adobe’s Flash Player, Adobe estimates Shockwave is installed on 55 percent of Internet-connected computers, and the software is downloaded hundreds of thousands of times a day, making the Google Toolbar bundling particularly attractive for Google.

The deal is indicative of recent efforts being made by Google to promote its software whereby the search company pays partners to promote and distribute Google software rather than just cutting them in on some of the ad revenue generated by the partnership. Google is widely seen as wanting to increase the ubiquity of its tools prior to the release of Windows Vista, which will contain all sorts of hooks into Microsoft’s own Web-based search and application offerings, potentially threatening Google’s current dominance of Internet search and ever-expanding presence in other online applications like instant messaging, chat, mapping, calendars, email, and other services.

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Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

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