I've been an Arc user on and off for years at this point (my member card says that I've been using it since October 31st, 2022) and I honestly really like the product and what it is—not so much what the company wants it to be.

Why Do I Like Arc

First and foremost: I like it because it's different. I really like the way things are organized with ephemeral tabs, pinned tabs, and favorites. It wasn't something I always really knew what to do with, but after some playing around with it, I find that I'm really enjoying it.

The other thing about it I really enjoy is the simplicity. I like being able to quickly swipe between spaces, I like the clean interface, I like the little things like using ⇧ + ⌘ + C to copy the link to the current website, it's just fun to use.

What's Wrong

So a couple days ago, Josh Miller, the CEO of The Browser Company of New York, the company that makes Arc posted an update on Youtube talking about the future of Arc and it almost sounds like they're losing interest in this browser, which is sad.

Josh says that the Arc as we know it is here to stay, but that they're going to start working on a new project that is the future of the company, another step in the idea of a "browser that browses for you".

Why Change Directions?

So Josh talks a little bit about this and says that, while Arc has been growing rather steadily, that they know it's never going to be a mass market thing, it's going to likely stay a niche thing and that this is somehow bad. But what Josh wants is "a browser that my mom would use" to paraphrase what he says in the video.

The company seems to want to be moving to something that's way more mass market and this is something I'm not quite sure really exists. Josh goes on and talks about this AI-powered experience for this browser that really does a lot of the work for you.

The Problem

I think that this is a fundamentally flawed pivot in the pursuit of something I am not totally convinced actually exists. You see, over the past two years I've seen Arc really try to push the AI angle of their browser, just like every other VC funded tech venture these days and it seems that they're losing the plot.

The whole concept of building a tool like this seems kind of backwards to me. They keep pushing down this "nobody actually wants to use the web" kind of notion with a lot of their features like AI summaries and Browse for Me, both of which aren't features I use that often, if at all.

Arc Max, as a whole, was going to be their answer to monetization, but I think that this isn't going to be the answer that they're hoping it would have been. I really haven't seen much value in that feature set and it's not something I would personally be interested in paying for if it ends up being rather expensive as most AI subscriptions are (since AI is expensive to run).

What I Would Like to See From the Company

I'm not saying I don't think the company should build more products, the thing I question is:

• The existence of a market of people's moms (and those who are generally less technologically inclined) who are willing to pay money for a browser
• The company's ability to actually successfully maintain both applications
  Browsers are hard. They know that. It's hard enough to have a startup working on one like this at all, but I fear they're going to let perfect become the enemy of good enough and both products end up withering due to lack of market fit and lack of support.

What I think Arc should do is start building the browser to be a browser for people who care about web browsers, because that's the market. Those are the people who are going to pay money for a browser. The people who don't care about browsing are just going to use the stock app as little as possible. Charge for Arc. Charge $20/month for it. I will be willing to pay that if I know there's going to be a commitment to making the app better.

When you lean to heavily into AI VC dollars, you really show me that you're not interested in building a good product, you're interested in funding. Arc hasn't found a killer use for AI in the browser, most companies have yet to really find a killer use for AI in many places. And I'm an AI proponent. I've been following the tech for damn near a decade and I'll be 23 in January. It's a really cool technology, but I don't think it's going to be the bright future Arc wants it to be. I really just don't see this vision.

Conclusion

If Arc can show that they can find the market for this new project and still improve on their current offering, then I will be impressed. I want this to happen. I want the company to do well, I want the product to do well, but I'm really struggling to see the vision here, and I've really struggled to see the vision for a while. I like what Arc is, not what BCNY wants it to be. Arc is a browser for browsers. Let it be that. I'll also link a similar video from developer and YouTuber, Theo, talking a bit about his experience with the browser and with interacting with Josh. What do you think about Arc? Have you used it? Do you like it? Let me know over on Mastodon.