**Facing a Big Tech and AI Onslaught, Whale’s Market Share Hits Yearly Low**
**ChatGPT and Perplexity Integration Fails to Prevent User Exodus**
**Widening Gap with Market Leader Google Chrome**
**Expert: “Urgent Need for a Unique AI Experience in Whale”**
Amid an intensifying big tech incursion in the web browser market, Naver’s local service ‘Whale’ is losing its footing. Whale’s market share hit its lowest point in a year. The photo shows Naver headquarters [Yonhap].
As the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more prevalent in the web browser market, Whale’s position is expected to weaken further. This perspective points to an urgent need to bolster native firms’ competitiveness in the so-called ‘second war’ in the AI-driven web browser landscape.
According to market research firm StatCounter, as of September, Whale’s market share in the domestic web browser market was just 7.23% (ranked fourth overall). This represents the lowest monthly share in the past year, down 2.24 percentage points from 9.47% in September of the previous year.
Browsers, software developed for accessing internet websites, have been led by Google’s Chrome since its 2008 release. Launched by Naver in 2017, Whale is considered a leading domestic web browser.
Whale’s domestic market share has been declining since the beginning of the year, dropping into the 7% range from August.
The disparity is even more pronounced when compared to Google Chrome, which holds the number one spot in the domestic browser market. Chrome’s market share in September was 58.78%, the highest monthly figure over the past year, widening the gap with Whale. This figure is also an increase of 4.12 percentage points compared to September last year (54.66%).
Industry experts attribute the widening market share gap to Whale’s AI services lagging behind those of global companies. Despite an update last January that integrated ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, Whale remains at a competitive disadvantage.
With global AI services easily accessible, users appear to lack a compelling reason to use Whale for AI functionalities. Experts emphasize the need to enhance the competitiveness of its in-house AI service ClovaX and offer a unique AI experience exclusive to Whale.
An industry official stated, “Users can access the same services through other applications, so there’s no need to go through Whale. It’s challenging to differentiate just by integrating global AI services.” He added, “Whale must develop unique AI services that can only be experienced on its platform.”
Criticism has also emerged of Naver’s AI strategy being stuck in a phase of following global big tech. Choi Byung-ho, a professor at Korea University’s AI Research Institute, said, “Attaching global AI services to the web browser is more about showing that Naver can also integrate AI like global companies, rather than actually attracting users.”
Moreover, entries by global AI companies into the web browser market are additional variables. With global AI firms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT (around 20 million monthly active users) and Perplexity (around 1.5 million) entering the fray, Whale’s stance is expected to weaken further.
On October 22, OpenAI launched Atlas, a web browser based on ChatGPT. In July, Perplexity also launched the AI browser ‘Comet’ initially as a paid service, but recently made it free, presumably as a strategy to secure users. – Reporter Min-ju Cha