Google is stepping up its efforts to increase awareness, and ultimately market share, of its Chrome web browser with a new Sony partnership. Under the deal, Chrome will come pre-installed on Sony's Vaio line of computers according to the Financial Times.

It marks Chrome's first distribution deal with a hardware vendor, and though Sony's own share of the computer market isn't itself big enough to launch Google's browser into the stratosphere, it's still an important milestone on Chrome's road map.

The financial specifics of the deal weren't disclosed, and a Google spokesperson called the Sony partnership merely "experimental." Still, it's clear the search giant is starting to come out swinging against Microsoft's continuing hold on the browser market along with Mozilla's Firefox.

There's a sense of frustration at Google about Chrome's relatively lackluster adoption at about 2.6% of the global browser market. Chrome product management director Brian Rakowski expresses astonishment that despite how much internet users rely on browsers, telling FT that "it’s absolutely a problem that people don’t know what a browser is, or how to evaluate one" (the company even poked fun at this in a video earlier this year).

The Sony Vaios with Chrome on board have already begun to go on sale. Google indicated it's already in talks with other computer manufacturers to boost distribution through similar deals.

Check out Chrome and 13 other browsing options in our recent 14 Alternative Browsers That Are Not IE6 feature and let us know in the comments: do you think distribution deals are the key to wider Chrome adoption? Do you have thoughts on why it seems browser awareness is suspiciously low?