The browser enters the small screen, the competition is more intense

　　2009 when Google goes to Times Square with a camera, asks the people on the road what is a browser, "search engine," "Broadband?", "Yahoo?" This is the answer that the user is half aware of, or ignorant of.

While these answers are sufficient to show that people are not familiar with browsers, they also reflect the core business of technology companies such as Google and Microsoft. Because browsers are now not just portals to the entire network, they are also stored on the web, such as web based applications, files and photos, and all kinds of information.

And as cloud technology penetrates and becomes more complete for businesses and individuals, browser companies are caught up in a new battle to win over users and how to use the Internet.

This makes people think of the 90 's. At that time, Microsoft's IE and Netscape browsers wanted to eminence on the PC side. But this time, the whole war is focused on the mobile side. The browser battle has also affected some of the previously entrenched businesses. Google's browser-based business applications, for example, have threatened Microsoft's desktop software, while mobile Web apps could threaten Apple's App store.

"20 years ago, we had no idea how people would use the Internet, and we certainly didn't think of smartphones or tablets," he said. "Mobile represents a whole new level of innovation, which makes us feel like we're in the rockmelt of inventing innovation since the early 90," says Marc Andreessen, investor of Netscape's co-founder and new browser start-up. ”

Browsers allow web companies to better control the way users use their products, while providing them with data that users use the Web, which helps them optimize their products and service advertisers. In addition, the faster browsing experience of the same time can bring more network activity, whether people search on Google or on Amazon, these behaviors can bring more revenue to the network company.

So as Andreessen says: "Why should we isolate ourselves from our users? We need to have sufficient control over the user experience; we have to ensure that our services are layered. ”

Google's Chrome browser, for example, makes its search simpler and faster--now people can enter search requests directly in the address bar, and its applications, such as Gmail, Google Drive for cloud storage, and Docs for word processing, It is now available in any browser.

"Chrome makes it easier for you to search, surf the web, use Drive, Docs, and various applications." And we're lucky that when people do these things, we do better than our competitors. "Chrome is a platform that is at the bottom of all of our cloud operations," said Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome. ”

Most people use Chrome, Microsoft IE, Firefox, or Apple Safari. Chrome overtook IE as the first big browser last spring, the biggest shock in 15 years for the entire market.

Other small companies, such as Rockmelt and Opera, are also trying to get a piece of the market. But most of their energy is focused on movement.

Browsers themselves don't make money, and browsers like Firefox are collecting money from Google and Microsoft when users use a Google or Bing search box built into their browsers.

David B. Yoffie, a co-author of Harvard Business School and a book on the first-generation browser war, agrees: "No one wants to make money in a browser." ”

"But now for a while, browsers have become a broader interface for various kinds of cloud technology, not just traditional websites." ”

On the way to the cash-flow, today's browser companies have begun to redesign their products by following the shift of consumers to mobile devices, social networks and various cloud-based applications.

For example, the latest mobile-end browser can slide the tabs through their fingers, automatically changing the Web page size to match the phone screen and loading faster. Other browsers have achieved synchronization with other devices, allowing users to get access to the most frequent pages, passwords and credit card accounts.

But then again, the experience of mobile browsers is rather clumsy compared to desktop browsers and mobile apps. The reason is not difficult to imagine, mobile applications have more exciting features, faster loading, and "for small screen and life."

However, technical experts say the overall effect of a mobile browser can be raised when HTML5 technology, designed for several years, dedicated to web design begins to prevail. Because the HTML5 technology will allow you to make the site as rich and beautiful as it is now, for example, support enhanced video effects, support for offline reading of Web pages, and more.

"If HTML5 technology finally takes off, then the importance of browsers will be more prominent." "The idea, though not yet realized today, has been Yoffie." ”

While few people currently download Chrome to mobile devices, Pichai said, Google is using a better mobile browser to allow netizens to perform a series of more complex operations on the WEB, such as shopping, playing games, and so on.

Microsoft is also betting on HTML5, whose latest IE browsers are designed to cater to the user experience of flat size screen sizes. In addition, Microsoft's manager for IE Affairs, Ryan Gavin, said the company was also encouraging software developers to create more Web sites like apps, such as supporting gesture input or something. For example, in a new browser, readers can use their hands to draw from an article directly to another article without having to click the "Next page" with the finger.

Firefox is trying to integrate social networks into the latest edition, and its sidebar can display news updates for services such as Facebook and allow users to chat without switching tabs or apps.

Another start-up company, Rockmelt's products, has further subverted the browser. Its new IPad browser no longer displays a blank window, but instead makes the entire browser page as Flipboard, incorporating pictures, posts, and articles into the window.

"All the problem with desktop browsers is that it has only a large, stupid, blank window, while others copy the pattern to the mobile end." Rockmelt's co-founder and CEO said, "But now, we have moved to the next generation of visual user interface." ”

So even though compared to 09, more people now know what browsers are. But companies say their goal is to do what they can to get everyone to forget the concept of browsers.

"The guys don't care about the browser at all. "They just care about what's on the web," Gavin said. ”