The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Naver aims to expand presence in local web browser market with Whale

By Yonhap

Published : April 27, 2021 - 14:14

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Naver's headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province (Korea Herald DB) Naver's headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province (Korea Herald DB)
Naver Corp., South Korea's dominant internet portal and search engine, said Tuesday it aims to lead the local web browser market with its own product named Whale in three years.

Whale -- a Chromium-based web browser released in October 2017 -- is the fourth mostly used web browsing tool in terms of the market share. Google Inc.'s Chrome topped the list with more than a whopping 60 percent.

"Naver aims to top the local web browser market in three years," Kim Hyo, a Naver official, said during an online press conference, emphasizing that the market share of Whale jumped nearly 10 times in just two years.

To boost its market share, Naver has adopted various features, such as omnitasking -- a split-screen function that allows users to browse two websites in the same tab.

The company also introduced an updated version of Whale, enabling developers to create add-on content more easily.

Kim further said more users will enjoy Whale as they will be able to experience the same service both on computer and mobile platforms.

Naver also has joined hands with LG Electronics Inc. to develop a notebook dedicated to Naver's online education platform Whale Space. Tentatively named Whalebook, it will be a cloud-optimized laptop powered by Whale. (Yonhap)