Apple Releasing a Windows Browser
Link: Apple Releasing a Windows Browser
"Like many of Apple’s strategic moves, the implication of an Apple browser for Windows was not immediately clear, but it is likely that Mr. Jobs is now plotting a broader business strategy that will allow Apple to grow beyond its niche position in the computer market of about 5 percent."
Since the NY Times’ John Markoff can’t imagine why Apple would port Safari to Windows, I’ll suggest one reason why it would make sense. It’s not because, as Markoff suggests, Safari on Windows will help Apple grow market share for the Macintosh (I’m not even sure why it would follow that a Windows user, after using Safari, would want to go out and buy a Mac). Safari on Windows makes sense because Safari will be a development tool and debugging environment for the iPhone, and Apple wisely realizes that developers might not want to purchase a bunch of new Macs just to write software for the new phone.
As a developer tool, it makes sense. But is sure as heck isn’t likely to make much headway in standalone Windows market share! Its tough to displace the default. I used to be GM of Netscape, so I have some first hand experience in this matter… I blogged a bit about this in Jan when the first rumors of safari for windows surfaced. Click on the link below if you’re interested
http://lsvp.wordpress.com/2007/01/14/safari-for-windows-and-the-power-of-the-default/
OK, so why should Safari be the development platform and not another standards-compliant browser? Is it because they’re using XUL or some other kind of thing? Is it because they’re going to have their own proprietary ‘enhancements’ to the browser?
And hey, while I’m Mr. Grumpy, when is Safari going to be giving back more than it takes from Konqueror anyway?
Hi Jeremy! Good to hear from you. Yes, I agree that it’s unlikely that Safari will make much headway among consumers on Windows — already there have been a lot of blog posts by people who are complaining that it takes up too much memory. I don’t think that page load times, even if they are faster, will make up for that much.
Doug, I don’t know what they’re planning, but if you own the browser you can add developer stuff (like an in-browser debugger, maybe) that would extend the browser without making it non-standards-compliant.