This one is quite tricky. Google shares Webkit with Apple, so they sure can ram new stuff through that way. Together they control the majority of the mobile market.
The Amazon Kindle reader was a nice example of that, working on Chrome and Safari, but not Firefox, due to competing web-database standards being implemented.
H.264 vs WebM is another one. Google made a lot of noise about dropping H.264 for WebM, Firefox actually did so (because they had no choice, anyway), but Chrome still ships with H.264 support.
So I don't have the impression there are real fronts as far as promoting web standards are concerned. For better or worse.
I'm sure Google realizes the strategic and technical value of a second open-source browser implementation.
Just because they're using WebKit today doesn't mean they will forever (or for everything). Gecko is valuable as an alternative and as a way to "keep web standards honest". A WebKit monoculture would eventually bake in too many hidden assumptions.
I have to disagree. Yes, Kindle reader came out using Web SQL DB, but that spec is dead and for good reasons. I don't know how far along IE is at supporting IndexedDB, but it won't be long before Firefox, Chrome and IE all support IndexedDB and then it will make plenty of sense for Amazon to build Kindle Reader on top of that. From what I read, iOS 5 doesn't support IndexedDB, sadly. But it will in time.
I'm still surprised that no one has written an IndexedDB shim on top of Web SQL DB.
But with what do you disagree? That WebSQL and IndexedDB are competing standards? From the point of view of a web developer, they must be, or we wouldn't have gotten into this situation in the first place.
The Amazon Kindle reader was a nice example of that, working on Chrome and Safari, but not Firefox, due to competing web-database standards being implemented.
H.264 vs WebM is another one. Google made a lot of noise about dropping H.264 for WebM, Firefox actually did so (because they had no choice, anyway), but Chrome still ships with H.264 support.
So I don't have the impression there are real fronts as far as promoting web standards are concerned. For better or worse.