There are already some excellent apps, like The New York Times, Springpad and TweetDeck. The bigger story is that we are entering an era dominated by apps. It isn’t just our mobile devices: web browsers, computers (think the forthcoming Mac App Store) and televisions have an app storefront.

Monitoring essential and pitiful apps is the next great challenge for those (like me) who monitor consumer technology. How will this impact the once Wild West of the Internet? If people use apps more and scour the Internet less, how do do-it-yourself web site builders get discovered?

It is an exciting future, but not without questions.

Clearly I am in good company, as others have debated the merits of both browsers. (And yes I have tried the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Safari. IE is still too poky and Safari is another Apple product; very innovative but always missing essential features). I find myself splitting my time right now between Chrome and Firefox. There is a lot of merit and room to improve with both.

What do I love about Chrome? It’s blazing fast and has a minimalistic interface. It’s also very smart about handling the day-to-day functions of a quality web surfing session. Click a link to open a new tab, and it opens right next to your current tab. Pull a tab out of the browser and create an application shortcut. Also the address bar searches Google, your web history and bookmarks all at once.

But where Chrome is innovative, Firefox is full-featured. Because I work between two different computers, using Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) to sync my bookmarks is essential. Adblocks is great for nuking  annoying online ads. Plus if I get tired of the default appearance I can always install another one. The flexibility is what keeps me connected to Mozilla’s browser for now.

So who is the “winner?” Right now, both. When I need to get work done, Firefox is my choice. If I am just reading and doing general web browsing, it’s Chrome. Writing for AppCraver and my other clients keeps me on the web constantly, so this is an obsession I plan to take seriously. For true tech geeks such as myself this will be fun to watch play out.