Avast Has 100 Million Users, Bundles Chrome with Antivirus
Did you ever wonder how popular Avast’s security software solutions are? According to Avast, as of 10:59 Tuesday morning, there are a total of 100 million people all over the world that use the company’s products. It is an important milestone for the company that specializes in providing full desktop security; and a milestone the Avast team has been eagerly anticipating.
CEO Vincent Steckler himself: “We started the year with about 70 million users. We had a little celebration and promotion for 75 million users. Then we watched 80 million and 90 million go by. By October it was clear that we would cross 100 million in December. So, on the morning of 8 December all of our staff crowded around a large monitor to watch the registration counter tick upwards to 100 million. We had a little self-induced tension in the event—just 30 seconds before the 100 million mark, someone hit a button on a remote control that switched the display away from the count—some seconds of mad scramble restored the picture. We did it. We reached the 100 million user milestone at 10:59 Tuesday morning.”
In related news, Avast announced that it entered a deal with Google to help the Mountain View-based search engine giant propagate its Chrome browser (currently Chrome holds about 4% of the worldwide market share). To be more precise, Avast will bundle its antivirus application with Google’s browser. Computer users that want to install Avast Free Antivirus version 5 will be asked if they want to install Google Chrome as well. Avast Free Antivirus version 5 has yet to be released.
"As we get close to our launch date for our new Avast! Free Antivirus, version 5 we have an exciting new agreement with Google to announce,” said Vincent Steckler. "We will be giving our new users an option to install Google Chrome when installing Avast. We are not forcing Chrome on users. It is entirely up to the user–to download/install is entirely up to the user and nothing is hidden. Personally, I think Google Chrome is an exciting new browser.”
You might remember that earlier this year Google made a deal to bundle Chrome with RealPlayer – details here.
CEO Vincent Steckler himself: “We started the year with about 70 million users. We had a little celebration and promotion for 75 million users. Then we watched 80 million and 90 million go by. By October it was clear that we would cross 100 million in December. So, on the morning of 8 December all of our staff crowded around a large monitor to watch the registration counter tick upwards to 100 million. We had a little self-induced tension in the event—just 30 seconds before the 100 million mark, someone hit a button on a remote control that switched the display away from the count—some seconds of mad scramble restored the picture. We did it. We reached the 100 million user milestone at 10:59 Tuesday morning.”
In related news, Avast announced that it entered a deal with Google to help the Mountain View-based search engine giant propagate its Chrome browser (currently Chrome holds about 4% of the worldwide market share). To be more precise, Avast will bundle its antivirus application with Google’s browser. Computer users that want to install Avast Free Antivirus version 5 will be asked if they want to install Google Chrome as well. Avast Free Antivirus version 5 has yet to be released.
"As we get close to our launch date for our new Avast! Free Antivirus, version 5 we have an exciting new agreement with Google to announce,” said Vincent Steckler. "We will be giving our new users an option to install Google Chrome when installing Avast. We are not forcing Chrome on users. It is entirely up to the user–to download/install is entirely up to the user and nothing is hidden. Personally, I think Google Chrome is an exciting new browser.”
You might remember that earlier this year Google made a deal to bundle Chrome with RealPlayer – details here.
