WSJ On Google's Battle For The Dell DesktopWSJ On Google's Battle For The Dell Desktop

The Wall Street Journal has an intriguing article examining Google's negotiations to pay Dell to get space on Dell PC desktops, citing anonymous sources and noting that the negotiations could yet fall apart. (Here's the article, subscription required.)Our recent Google Secrets article highlights the company's software ambitions as one of the eight most-critical unanswered questions about the company's strategy. We focused on the Google Pack installer as a critical pipeline to get new applications and software updates onto users desktop, emphasizing the importance of Internet downloads in powering the company's software ambition. We missed this channel of negotiating directly with PC makers, and the high cost PC companies extract to access this important mass-market channel. The Journal's anonymous source says Google could pay a figure approaching $1 billion over three years.