After a full day to ingest everything that is Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows, it is clear that this browser can be great if it can accomplish the following:
- –Reduce the switching costs associated with Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari on both PCs, Macs, and (most importantly) mobile devices. While Chrome won’t dominate market share in the desktop/laptop space any time soon, it can realistically supplant Windows Mobile and Safari much faster in the mobile arena. As the convergence of mobile devices continues, I would expect mobile devices to be at the center of our digital lives and what would users expect in their mobile browser of choice? A stable, simple, and fast application–exactly what Google Chrome is looking to differentiate itself as.
- –Redefine the term “browser”. As web 1.0 application functionality shifts to the cloud, this Google operating system, needs to become the platform for a social and ultimately semantic web. Not just a place to type/mistype in URLs and stare at static content. Setting the bar high and increasing competition and openness, can only make the web a better place to interact with.
- –Integrate all of the Google properties as functionality points: Gears, Docs, Mail, Picassa, Search, YouTube, Finance, Calendar, Blogger, Jaiku, News, and future acquisitions to come…all without being perceived as Evil.