This is a standard negotiating tactic. Google will back down once they prove that WebM is a real threat to MPEG-LA's business model. They'll do this because you'll find Google getting an exclusive sweet deal from MPEG-LA for streaming h.264 on YouTube (which is what they really care about). Once that happens, h.264 will be back in play on Chrome, leaving FireFox and Opera as the odd browsers out. Which, incidentally, is great for Google because users of those browsers will just switch over to Chrome.
By similar logic, Chrome is just a ploy to get Microsoft to make Google the default search in IE, and Android is just a ploy to keep Apple using Google Maps on the iPhone.
This could be true, or it could actually be that Google wants people to use a format that works on Linux, OS X, and Windows. Not everything is a conspiracy or a ploy, you know.
