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What's Really Behind Apple's Decision To Bring Safari To Windows?What's Really Behind Apple's Decision To Bring Safari To Windows?
Readers had a lot to say about why Apple decided to port its Safari browser to Windows. Readers said iPhone users will need to use Safari to sync with PCs running Windows and suggested that Apple is doing the whole thing as a marketing move.</p>
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Readers had a lot to say about why Apple decided to port its Safari browser to Windows. Readers said iPhone users will need to use Safari to sync with PCs running Windows and suggested that Apple is doing the whole thing as a marketing move.
My post yesterday, "Windows Users Don't Care About Safari," generated decent traffic and many interesting responses. That's irony for you: Lots of people seemed to be interested in reading about why most people aren't interested in something.
"I think the gamble is that Safari will be the gateway drug to iPhone," said "Rob the Drummer." "I think, maybe, just maybe we can look ahead to iPhoto and iWeb coming to Windows."
Several readers took me to task for my comment that high-speed Internet access makes fast page rendering unimportant. Apple boasts about Safari's fast page rendering, but I argued that really doesn't matter.
Reader "Frustrated" said:
The idea that a high speed internet connection negates the need for fast rendering has it completely wrong: faster rendering is most notable on a high-speed connection."
I've downloaded and installed Safari and found it much snappier, it's like driving a car with a very responsive gas pedal. Furthermore, I appreciate Safari's simple, subdued interface.
I think it's a rather brilliant strategy on Apple's part. Apple is in the business of selling content on the net, and for that they need iTunes on as many computers as possible. The web browser is one of the most valuable strategic pieces of real estate on a computer, the portal to which they connect to the net and engage in commerce. Picking up just a couple of percentage points of the Windows market, which isn't inconcievable, would be a big long-term strategic win for Apple.
And "mindpower" agreed: "Fast rendering is important, especially as sites become more and more complicated with heavy JavaScript usage. On my 20MBit broadband I notice a huge difference between Safari and IE."
"d_pp" said:
Forget "rendering" speed. It's all about JavaScript interpreter speed. JavaScript is crucial to a modern Web experience, love it or hate it. Web developers rely on it, because nobody expects static pages anymore.
Safari has, far and away, the fastest JavaScript interpreter. Run some JavaScript benchmarks and see."
"zigthe3rd" said: "Safari for Windows will probably be bundled with iTunes in future versions. People will use it and see how great it is and want to buy macs. Same strategy as iTunes for Windows."
"San Diego" said: "Apple is very good about reaching whatever goals they set for themselves. I don't believe that Safari is supposed to take over IE or Firefox, but rather facilitate other components on the hardware and software side to make their more products as seamless as possible."
Readers had plenty of other interesting comments, including reports on bugs, which I'm not repeating here because, hey, Safari on Windows is beta software. It's supposed to have bugs. Read all the comments on our snazzy new forums.
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