&gt;  why do you think they pay for ads for people to install it? google makes money directly&#x2F;indirectly from people using chrome, and they do it by collecting data from chrome.<p>Products don&#x27;t need to explicitly produce revenue to be worth developing (and advertising). It&#x27;s shocking to me how this incredibly basic concept is so far beyond the understanding of so many, particularly on HN. Chrome is a particularly easy case, given that, from its inception, it&#x27;s pushed people towards Google searches.  I&#x27;ve lost count of how many times people have pointed out that Android is a failure for Google because they don&#x27;t make any money off of it (yes really), completely ignoring the fact that a world in which iOS controlled ~100% of the mobile market would be an uncomfortable position for Google (given that internet activity was moving so heavily towards mobile).