The technology world is buzzing after Google launched an internet browser yesterday. Some suspect that the application, called Chrome, is just the beginning of Google’s ambitions to develop its own web-based operating system.

In the past year, technology companies – and even some retailers – have begun to talk about the existence of the internet outside of internet browsers, with desktop tools such as widgets being launched and the idea of three-dimensional virtual stores and shopping centres being floated. Indeed, rumours even surfaced online last year, which claimed that Google was creating a three-dimensional mall and was signing up Europe’s major retailers to inhabit it.

However, this development seems to tie the future of the web firmly to the browser – albeit a browser with ambitions.

Google says it has created Chrome to drive innovation on the web and the launch of its beta version for Windows has been designed to start a broader discussion on what the browser should be.

In a blog on the browser’s launch, Google vice-president of product management Sundar Pichai and engineering director Linus Upson explained: “Because we spend so much time online, we began seriously thinking about what kind of browser could exist if we started from scratch and built on the best elements out there. We realised that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to rethink the browser completely. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications and that’s what we set out to build.”

So, Google is styling Chrome as a system that can run web applications, rather than an application that simply deciphers HTML code to display web pages.

Much of the comment around this news so far has focused on whether Chrome can put any kind of dent in Microsoft’s browser dominance with Internet Explorer, or whether Chrome is actually more of a challenge to second-placed browser Firefox.

However, perhaps what is more important is whether the launch will lead to a step-change in what it is possible to develop and deliver via the web, whichever browser consumers ultimately choose.

For retailers, this could mean moving from sites that are essentially web-based catalogues to feature-packed web shopping applications.

And, with the might of Google behind it, Chrome might just be a shining example of the way forward for the web.

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