Dell has confirmed that it and Google are considering a partnership that would result in the bundling of Google Toolbar, Google Desktop Search and Google-designed Dell default homepage with new Dell computers, writes CNET. Google confirmed that tests were going on, but would not add more. The Wall Street Journal reported that the two companies are evaluating a three-year, possibly $1 billion deal to let Google install its software on Dell PCs.

The focus is now on the browser, not the desktop, on which companies once competed to place their (often ignored) icons and shortcuts. However, PC users connected to the web rely on their browsers, and toolbars on those browsers contain oft-used tools, such as search.

Google already has partnerships with PC makers such as Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Apple Computer and Toshiba to distribute the Google Toolbar, according to a Google representative quoted by Reuters. Gateway said it's shipping the Google Toolbar with new PCs.