Gartner analyst David Mitchell Smith believes that Google's Chrome will eventually establish itself as a major browser – and it is Mozilla's Firefox that will suffer as a result.
Chrome arrived in a blaze of glory, but despite a rousing start has not had the impact that many had predicted – despite being the creation of the internet's most recognisable brand.
However, Mitchell Smith believes that Chrome will soon overcome early criticisms of its functionality, and begin to show its potential in a market dominated by Microsoft's Internet Explorer and the open-source Firefox.
Potential
"I think we're yet to see the potential there," Mitchell Smith told TechRadar. "Google seems to be putting a lot behind the project and there are a lot of enhancements in the pipeline.
"I think they need to get up to par on certain things like plug-ins, handling RSS and the ability to forward links; there are some pretty basic things missing.
"That's what stops me from moving on to Chrome."
Chroming, ready or not
Mitchell Smith dismisses suggestions that Google should have held off on Chrome until it was a more competitive product.
"I don't think Google went too early," he insists. "I think for a first release it was pretty good and it certainly shocked a lot of people that it was brought out of beta so quickly."
Mozilla has recently become embroiled with the EC's case against Microsoft over the way in which Internet Explorer is the default browser for Windows, but Mitchell Smith believes that it is Chrome that carries the biggest threat for Firefox.
"I would say that the browser that has most potential to hurt Firefox is Chrome because both appeal to a similar kind of user; savvy, interested enough to install, interested in open source and interested in the development of browsers."
