It’s been nearly eight months since Silicon Valley based Flock released a developer versionof its Firefox based browser. This evening they are releasing theirfirst public beta version, available for Windows, Mac and Linuxmachines, at Flock.com. I’ve been running the most recent developer release on my Mac for the last few weeks and it is now my browser of choice.
I interviewed the Flock founders – Bart Decrem, Geoffrey Arone andAnthony Young – as well as investor Jason Pressman from ShastaVentures, last night. The podcast of the discussion is up onTalkCrunch, here.
Flock is a Mozilla based browser (see also Songbird,another application built on the Mozilla code base). They’ve builtadditional features to the core Firefox code base that make thebrowsing experience more seamless, including photo integration withFlickr or photobucket, social bookmarking integration with Del.icio.usor Shadows, a blogging tool, enhanced search and a RSS reader.
Photos
Photos stored in either Flickr or Photobucket are integrateddirectly into the browser experience, scrolled horizontally just abovethe browser window. Photos can be uploaded to these accounts bydragging them into the browser. Or, photos can be added to any web pagethat accepts html (a comment area on a blog, for example) by draggingthe photo directly into the web page. This is the single mostcompelling reason (for me) that I’ve switched to using Flock – to bringmy Flickr photos to the desktop.
Photobucket and Flickr are currently supported. More photo services will be integrated over time (I’ve suggested that CNET’s AllYouCanUpload be supported as well, for example).
Bookmarking
Flock also has close integration with Del.icio.us and Shadows socialbookmarking accounts. Clicking on the star button next to the addressbar bookmarks the current page, and metadata such as tags can also beadded. More bookmarking sites will be supported over time.
Blogging, Search, RSS
Flockhas an integrated blogging tool, with integrated tagging, that workswith most major blogging platforms. Users can switch between previewand html views. Search via the top right drop down (same location asFirefox) is set to Yahoo as a default, and an be changed to Google,Technorati, Wink, etc. (no support for MSN or Live.com search though).Beginning to type in a search query brings up a pop up box that showsrecent bookmarked sites, visited sites and search results from thedefault search engine.
The integrated RSS reader is excellent (image above to left). Anyvisited web page with a feed shows the orange feed icon in the addressbar. Clicking on it shows a preview of the feed. Another click and youare subscribed. Within the reader feeds can be read individually, or in“river of news” fashion.
Flock will make the majority of their revenue from the search bar,just as Firefox does. They have a revenue share agreement with searchproviders for searches completed through the browser. The low endestimates I’ve heard suggest that Firefox generates at least $2-3 peryear per user. Flock is also going to charge service providers tointegrate directly into the browser, and plans on launching co-brandedbrowsers with partners to increase distribution. Given their closerelationship with Yahoo (search, del.icio.us and flickr integration), Iwouldn’t be surprised to see a Yahoo version of Flock distributedsometime this year.
Flock has also raised a new round of financing led by Shasta Ventures, rumored to be in the $10 million range. Previous investors included Bessemer Venture Partners and Catamount Ventures.
TechCrunch » Blog Archive » Flock Raises New Venture Round, Launches Public Beta
Tags: Blogging
