Adobe bundles Google Toolbar with Shockwave

Adobe has announced that it will distribute Google's Toolbar with its products in a multiyear agreement between the two companies.

The deal will initially see Google's search bar add-on for Internet Explorer bundled with Adobe's Shockwave player. The Toolbar will be included with other Adobe products in the future.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although Adobe was positive about the potential.

"We expect the agreement to represent significant revenue to Adobe over a period of years," said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief operating officer at Adobe.

Omid Kordestani, senior vice president of global sales and business development at Google, added: "Adobe and Google are teaming up to help users more easily and quickly find the ever-increasing sources of information that are important to them."

Adobe acquired the Shockwave technology when it purchased rival Macromedia last year. The browser add-on, which enables multimedia playback, is installed on more than 55 per cent of internet-enabled machines.

Google's Toolbar is a free extension for Internet Explorer, providing quick access to search and other functions. The add-on also provides a spellchecker and pop-up blocker.