Will RockMelt succeed where others have failed?

A few months back I did a quick review of the RockMelt browser. In that review, I talked about its reported benefits and challenges. I could not review it firsthand because I had yet to receive an invite. Well last month, I finally received my invite (although I tend to think my SPAM filter might have done away with a couple earlier attempts). Coincidentally last week, RockMelt was made available to anyone as a public beta application; invites are no longer necessary. So, I thought now would be a good time for my review.

I've been using RockMelt for the better part of a month now, and I can honestly say—it's not that bad. Not a glowing recommendation, I know, but it could have been worse.

You see, I hopped on the bandwagon when Flock first came out. On paper, Flock was a brilliant idea. It was just that in practice, Flock was a pain in the butt—at least for me. Too many things going on. Too confusing. Plus, it ran slowly on my system. I felt a bit let down. I had wanted to like Flock, but it just could not deliver on its promises.

RockMelt has been different. It has delivered on its promises (even though some people were put off by how those RockMelt promises were delivered). RockMelt is built on Google's Chrome browser, which, overall, is amazingly fast. As those really cool Chrome commercials show, there is a noticeable improvement in the speed of pages loading. However, some pages repeatedly loaded incorrectly (Boston.com, for example), although they did incorrectly load incredibly fast.

The main selling point for RockMelt, however, is not speed, but the integration of social media apps like Twitter and Facebook (FB) as well as your RSS streams. These are the areas I really liked. The left-hand side of the screen is dedicated to Facebook. Being able to see my FB friends online with just a glance—as well as being able to easily IM them—is very convenient. I also like the fact that you can stay within your browser page to chat with someone on FB. This worked well last week when a friend and I were watching a Ustream show, and we were able to comment on the action (I'm talking to you Mr. Tigerblood).

The good news is that you can also easily toggle between offline and online on Facebook in case you want to get some actual work done. Sharing is also incredible easy with the "Share" button located between the URL bar and the quick-search bar. This allows you to quickly share any page you are on to Facebook or Twitter. You can also just drag any URL to the left and share it instantly with any of your online FB friends.

The right side of the browser allows for feeds from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and just about anything else with an RSS feed attached to it. I have a few of my favorite blogs and Web sites entered into this area. For me, the Facebook and Twitter updates are pretty much useless because with all the friends I have (that sounds a lot more snarky than it should), both fill up quickly, and I can't keep up with it. Every time I turn around I have another 99+ updates from my FB friends. I do like the RSS feed updates. This is a bit more manageable. And I find it very useful to keep up with all my favorite sites.

Overall, everything sounds great, right? So why don't I have a more glowing opinion of RockMelt? Because my current browser is just not bad enough. And that's the rub.

If you are like me, you have your current browser set up so you know exactly where everything is. My StumbleUpon and Delicious buttons? Got 'em and can use the in an instant. Favorites? Got those all lined up where I like them and in the folders I want them in. (Btw, you can import current bookmarks and other browser data into RockMelt.)

The bottom line is this: I'm not sure I'm ready for a new browser relationship. And I think that is going to be why RockMelt isn't going to attract a mass audience. And as cool as some RockMelt's features are, inertia in the marketplace is just too strong. RockMelt just doesn't have enough muscle.

It should also be noted that although last fall there was a lot of hype about the product (people like Robert Scoble were declaring RockMelt the next best thing), its release into public beta was a lot more subdued. Not sure what to make of that. About a million people have downloaded it so far, and according to TechCrunch, between 20 to 30 percent of those who have tried it so far are still active users.

I guess only time will tell if RockMelt will be successful or just another Flock in the pan. What do you think? Have you tried it? What features do you like or not like? What is preventing you from switching over from your current browser?