The NY Times points to the current landscape, where Microsoft and Apple have recently upgraded their entries, Google has introduced Chrome and “browser-lite” offered by Mozilla has captured 23 percent market share. Add to this already crowded field, a new venture by start-up RockMelt – backed by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen – that while still in the early stages, is rumored to have implications for engaging with social media platforms, and the battle lines are being redrawn.

With the increasing mobility and connectedness offered by new technologies, the web and not the computer is increasingly becoming our access point to work and play, while the internet is simultaneously being seen less as a cohesive whole as it is deconstructed into dynamic pages and applications for performing specific tasks. Which is to say, that the browser is the gateway to controlling and shaping that user experience and there’s plenty of room for  innovation to keep pace with this evolution.

The biggest challenge remains distribution, but as we’ve seen time and again, develop a compelling enough product and your audience will find you, particularly in the fluid world of online technology.

[image via R.P. Piper]

The New York Times reports that the split occurred under relatively friendly terms, and “Apple praised Mr. Schmidt for his work. But the company’s chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, said in a statement that Mr. Schmidt’s position would have been ’significantly diminished’ because he would have been forced to recuse himself from more of the meetings as Google and Apple began to compete head to head.”

This announcement serves to further complicate the race for top dog on the web, particularly given the power grab made by Microsoft and Yahoo! last week to regain ground in the search market. Google followed Schmidt’s announcement with news it would be starting a massive billboard advertising campaign in the major markets of Boston, Chicago, New York, and San Fransisco in order to combat fears that Microsoft’s new deal with Yahoo! would adversely affect the industry leader’s current dominance.

Even though conventional roadside billboards may seem anathema to the Google ethos given the almost esoteric nature of the format, it’s clear that the move will ultimately support the company’s bid to break into the operating system market long though of as a duopoly. According to Fast Company, the billboards, located next to high trafficked commuter routes, will “update every day for a month, and as the days go by it’ll reveal more and more about the concept of “going Google.”

And although Eric Schmidt downplayed the implications of his departure from the board of Apple, “clearly Google is confident enough in its software that it sees it as a real, working, reliable, solid and cheaper alternative to the business production solutions that MS has been peddling for decades,” it’s hard to ignore the obvious implications, namely, Google pitting its prospects against those of its former partner-in-crime.

Needless to say, with the current reordering at the top of the heap, it appears like the battle for web supremacy will continue to heat up, a fact that should lead to some interesting innovations as these companies drive each other and attempt to take hold of greater market share.