Flock, the New Browser on the Block

OCTOBER 5, 2005

NEWS ANALYSIS :TECH
By Rob Hof

Flock, the New Browser on the Block
The latest challenger to Explorer and Firefox aims to beat the big guys by emphasizing blogging, networking, and online communities
Web browsers don't look much different than they did a decade ago, when Netscape Communications's initial stock offering catapulted software for navigating the Web into the public eye. You click on a site, look around, watch or listen to something, click somewhere else -- all by your lonesome self. Now, an upstart called Flock aims to change all that.

On Oct. 5, the Palo Alto-based startup takes the wraps off what it's calling a "social browser." Unlike plain-vanilla browsers such as Microsoft's (MSFT ) Internet Explorer, Flock's browser is built specifically for a new, emerging generation of Web users, one that isn't satisfied passively browsing media online.

Flock hopes to turn the browser into a dashboard for collaborating, blogging, sharing photos, reveling in a raft of other group activities that have recently caught fire online (see BW, 9/26/05, "It's a Whole New Web").

"INCUMBENTS ARE VULNERABLE."  "The Web is not just a library of documents, but a stream of events and people," says Flock co-founder and Chief Executive Bart Decrem. "And people are spending a lot more time sharing on the Web."

Flock is also the latest and most ambitious example of a surprising renaissance in browser innovation. Less than a year after its first ready-for-prime-time release, the Mozilla Firefox browser -- which Decrem and some of his engineers helped create and popularize before starting Flock last spring -- has stolen nearly 10% of the market from leader Microsoft.

Another browser, Opera, has also gained, especially in Europe. "The incumbents are vulnerable," says David Cowan, general partner with Bessemer Venture Partners, Flock's lead investor. "Today, those are the juiciest targets."

They're also the most powerful competitors. In response to competition from Firefox, Microsoft has turned up the firepower in its own browser, adding improved security in recent releases and planning more features in a new browser in coming months.

Continued - http://snipurl.com/flock