“Like the classic Google homepage, Google Chrome is clean and fast. It gets out of your way and gets you where you want to go.” — Google developers’ on why we need a new web browser.
Webkit is a smart choice. Given gmail has evolutionised the way we view email, it may be premature to describe Chrome as just an application runtime (ala prism – even if it uses that concept in part) just yet. But it does face stiff competition from Mozilla, whom continue to increase browser share.