Microsoft removes Chrome app from Windows Store hours after Google published it

Microsoft has taken down the Google Chrome app from its Windows Store that directed users to the download link of the browser. According to the company, the Google Chrome app violates its Store policies. [caption id=“attachment_4269773” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image: Google[/caption] According to a report by The Verge, Microsoft is not looking kindly upon Google’s Store app, which can, in fairness, hardly be described as an app. **Microsoft** issued a statement stating that apps are required to “provide unique and distinct value,” and the company is welcoming Google to build a Store browser app that complies with the rules laid down by Microsoft. The report also points out that it is unlikely that Google will build a Microsoft Store compliant browser app because of Microsoft’s restrictive rules for browser apps on the Store. According to the restrictions, any app that browses the web is limited to using the JavaScript and HTML engines that are provided by Windows. This means that Google will have to make a separate version of Chrome browser that follows these guidelines and Google uses Blink, its own rendering engine. Microsoft’s reasoning for these restrictions is understandable. Apps on the Store are expected to run on the crippled Windows 10 S variant of Windows, which is designed to run on everything from ARM-based PCs to regular PCs. Many Store apps are supposed to be compatible with the Xbox One and Windows Phone devices. This portability likely limits the flexibility of the code used. It’s also just as likely that Microsoft is pulling an Apple and wants to ensure that its own apps dominate the Store, particularly in the lucrative browser market. As per The Verge’s report, Google can’t or doesn’t want to port its desktop browser to the Store, and the placeholder app was probably published to combat the menace of fake apps on the Microsoft Store. A problem that Microsoft is still struggling with.

This is not the first time that the companies have clashed over apps or browsers, as reported by The Verge. The companies fought for YouTube app that Microsoft created for its Windows Phone platform after Google did not launch any of its apps for Windows Phone.