Search giant Google has apparently entered into a deal with Dell Computers to provide a Dell-Google co-branded personalized home page, which will be the default home page set for new Dell PCs and
laptops.
The deal was first reported this weekend on Google Blogoscoped, a blog authored by Philipp Lenssen in Stuttgart, Germany. Lenssen received a tip from a reader who claimed that
his new Dell PC's browser defaulted to a Dell/Google home page. Dell declined to comment, but the home page is visible at www.google.com/ig/dell.
The Dell home page includes the same modules
as the standard Google personalized page, but several custom modules appear to have been built for the computer giant--including a "My Dell" section, which offers links to diagnostics and
troubleshooting programs, and a module with extra content from Dell, including games and links to the Dell store.
Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li said the offering seems designed to draw
in more Google users, while also showing that Google intends to become more of a portal in the future. "It's a great move on the part of Google, to say, 'If you're going to use Explorer, it may be
Microsoft software, but it's a Google home page,'" she said.