When Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) stunned the consumer electronics and mobile market back in April by announcing that it would buy handheld device pioneer Palm for $1.5 billion, many jumped in to say that HP was just playing catch-up to Dell (DELL), which has its own mobile device strategy, and various hardware and mobile PC makers. After all, HP lacked a cohesive mobile and tablet computer product line and strategy -- two areas that are red-hot in the consumer sector. Was this a smart move for HP?

Instigated by an agreement negotiated between the European Commission (EC) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), a new browser selection utility has just become available. Although the browser choice software is intended mainly to be distributed through the Windows update system familiar to Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) users, it is also available online for anyone to access.

It is reported that Microsoft IE currently holds approximately 62% of browser market share. That is a powerful position for the company to be in when considering that web browsers are absolutely essential pieces of software. That is, in part, why the EC put pressure on Microsoft to open up the playing field to lesser known browser utilities. With their demands, European regulators essentially cut Microsoft's exclusive IE umbilical cord in July of 2009.

Google (GOOG) is shaping up to be quite a competitor to once-friend Apple (AAPL). Not only is it taking on the iPhone in many ways, it's now competing with Apple's Safari web browser on the Mac computing platform.

Google Chrome, which was launched over a year ago and is seen by some as the most simplistic and fastest web browser on the planet, want to be your portal to the Internet -- by displacing Apple's own excellent Safari web browser product.