Safari on Windows, Apple’s Secret
Apple’s Safari web browser has been available for Windows for quite a few days now, and no one is impressed. After several hours of testing, I experienced more than 10 crashes, and then I gave up. Yes, Safari is a beta product, but even Firefox 3 Alpha (which is far from being released) is more stable. Safari feels like a beta product, it is buggy, takes long to start up, and the speed increase is not noticeable on a broadband connection. Before you start to think I am anti-Safari, I must admit that Safari has a sleek design, very polished, but will it’s look get me to switch to Safari, no.
So why did Apple release safari for Windows? There are a couple theories (here and there), and of course it has to do with the upcoming release of the iPhone. But is that it?
Does Steve Jobs really think he can capture a noticeable amount of market share? Just by making a beautiful ‘fast’ browser? Compare Safari to Internet Explorer, and sure, you will convert some users. But Steve’s problem is that right now, Safari is not competing with Internet Explorer, but with Firefox.
Most internet users are unaware that Safari is avaiable for Windows, and those who are, are mostly Firefox users. And to get us to switch from Firefox to Safari, will take a lot more than a sleek design. Firefox has a plethora of features, extensions, and plugins which would take Apple a lot of effort to catch up to.
But then again, there is that one thing which Steve has, which puts us in the palm of his hands, the iPhone. The iPhone is one thing that we all want, and has become Apple’s way to leverage their needs towards them.
The iPhone is going to be the beginning for many new Apple features, new applications, new widgets, etc. Being an iPhone owner will be an exclusive experience, you will have access to more things, you will be able to do more,.. or at least, it will feel that way. This is the direction that Apple is going, and part of this, is Safari on Windows. It may not be obvious now, but Safari will have exclusive features. Soon we will be able to do things on Safari which we won’t be able to do on other browsers. Soon Apple will be creating Safari specific apps, or Safari only widgets. We are going to end up finding ourselves in the position that every time we hook up our iPod or sync our iPhone, we are going to have to be starting up SafariTunes, or whatever Apple will end up calling it.
The release of Safari now, is just mainly for developing purposes for the iPhone, but in the long run, Windows users are going to be facing new Apple applications which will combine our iTunes, Mail application, Agenda, and even web browser.
We must admit, Apple developers are clever. The experience of owning a Mac is great, everything is integrated, everything is works well together, and that is the experience that they are going to be bringing to Windows.
6 Comments
While I can see where you going with this argument there are some parts of it that sounds very similar to they way Microsoft handles things.
“It may not be obvious now, but Safari will have exclusive features. Soon we will be able to do things on Safari which we won’t be able to do on other browsers. Soon Apple will be creating Safari specific apps, or Safari only widgets. ”
You see, this all sounds all too much like ActiveX on IE. Apple should not try to reinvent certain ways of doings things (and try to create a new standard) but it should contribute (openly) to the standards already set by various institutions.
@Peter
In an ideal world yes, but since when has Apple ever been open and global with their actions? Just like any other big company, when they see business potential they take it.
Microsoft is indeed also quite a sneaky company, for example:
You can only use Microsoft Outlook (or Windows Live Mail) to check your Hotmail account, but Thunderbird or OSX Mail won’t work for it.
Personally i didnt know that safari existed for windows before the new beta version. I am not a huge fan of mac-alternatives when it comes to windows but i have to say , if they want to compete with Firefox, (well IE is kinda out of the picture right now) they really have to try hard.
I believe and certainly hope you’re right. With things like these about to happen you can almost already hear pesimists complaining: “There never going to pull it of”, “it’s nothing new”, “they won’t even get me near Safari.” Well I can tell you, I hope they do! Because If they get me to start using Safari on Windows, that means that they actually made a browser that I believe is better than the one I’m currently using (FF).
These kind of marketing decissions should be praised instead of critizised. If they screw up, do we get damaged by it in some kind of way? No! And if they succeed well, than we all end up using a better product (And finally one that looks good to).
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I must disagree with you..
I’ve had Safari on my PC for a week now (running XP SP2), and it’s much quicker then Internet Explorer. I have not received a single error message, and it hasn’t crashed once. The RSS feeds are very quick to update, and very clean.