@cheeaun@mastodon.socialIMO, Arc browser reminds me of Opera many years ago (even until today). The browser itself, product strategy, etc.
"Arc has grown fast — users quadrupled this year alone — but it has also become clear that Arc is never going to be a truly mainstream product."
"User interviews and data have convinced the company that this is a power-user tool, and always will be."
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/24/24279020/browser-company-ai-browser-arc
Looks like Arc's next browser(?), № 10: The Browser: https://browsewith10.com/
Reminds me of Opera 10, the first browser to approach a double-digit version number. There were UA sniffing issues, so their UA had to change to `Opera/9.80` (source: https://www.sitepoint.com/opera-10-user-agent/)
@damon I'm also using it daily.
They have some cool UI experiments/innovations, but over time, it will saturate. The more features they have, the more bugs they have, so it'll turn into "maintenance mode" like any other software. I think the problem is more business-centric; they can't take a bigger slice of the browser market share (thanks Chrome… and Safari?), and they need to make money 
— same story as any cool browsers that pop up over the years
@cheeaun Agreed but maybe they don’t have to. Maybe it can become a powerful utility that’s like a saas. That enough people and businesses will pay for.
@damon possible, not sure if there'll be enough people to pay for a browser.
It'll be boring "maintenance mode" tho', no more fancy "future of browsers" visionary thing 
@cheeaun Using Arc ended up little too much. Chrome’s tabs group seems to be simple mental model and efficient for me.
Wonder how Arc plans to monetize.
@cheeaun Interesting choice with such a new company and small team (as if a web browser could easily be maintained with little resources?).
And the next browser is supposed to be “more AI-centric”. 
I guess there’s no good reason for hope.
@hboon honestly the name is so GenZ 
@cheeaun hmm.. definitely similar. Opera was a suite though. Haven't used it for many years. Is it still a suite?
@hboon I also haven't use it much for years, only once every few years to "revisit"
It's been quite a roller-coaster ride for them, if you check what they've been doing for past few years 
