Apple Safari going Windows – Why?
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A few months ago, I predicted that Apple would start offering software for Windows, along with the release of the iPhone. My logic was such, that iTunes was simply not enough for the professional user, which the phone was marketed towards. And that the iPhone was an interesting platform to enter into Windows-territory. Of course I made some erroneous predictions and assumptions at that time, involving the delay of iLife and iWorks possibly being related and those being the software in question. But the study of strategy is not an exact science, even less when trying to guess the future strategy of the black hole that is Apple.
With that in mind, here’s a possible list of reasons why Apple is moving towards Windows with Safari:
- An SDK for iPhone-Apps: S.J. announced that web2.0/ajax-apps would be supported in the iPhone. Andy Ihnatko, on the Macbreak-podcast, made the point that we could be seeing apps written specifically for Safari, going beyond what Ajax Et al. currently has on offer. Similar comments were made on this Slashdot-story.
- Better web-development for Safari: having Safari on Windows means that web-developers will pay more attention to proper web-site-support on that browser.
- A platform to expand into Windows-app territory: In my opinion, Apple made a sneaky move by offering a free software on the Windows-platform. Just like iTunes is really just a window into the universe of media, Safari could be (together with the previous point) be a window into developing cross-platform apps for Windows and OSX, without giving Cocoa-developers too much power to really move cross-patform. One of my stances is still that Apple has an interest in keeping the hardcore-developers on the OSX-side, though probably/maybe these Safari-apps would interact with real apps also.
- A platform to expand into business-territory: Sure, I was wrong about iWork being ported to Windows, but there is of course Google’s office-app and Salesforce crm-app, as well as dozens of others. By offering a professional hardware like the iPhone, they had to in some way cater for the needs a business would have. One of these is portability of documents.
- Google and Yahoo search-revenue: Jeremy had the insight (echoed up by John Gruber) that browser-expansion would lead to more revenue from search results, which has proven to be quite a cash-machine for some browsers. While, I agree, an extra 100 million dollars a year is nice for AAPL, I don’t think that was their main reasoning, or they would’ve done it a while ago.
- Adobe’s Appollo: one of those geniuses on Slashdot made the comment that Adobe had already done half the work, by using the Webkit-code in their Apollo-suite. If that is true, then it would’ve been a simple move to migrate to Windows. It may have been planned by Apple, I’m not sure.
- Why not another software? I still think it would’ve been interesting to see a real Office-competitor from Apple on both platforms. One possible reason that wasn’t the case is that there is none. Another would be to keep most Apple-apps on Apple. The freeness of Safari will ensure the same rapid adoption as iTunes and other browsers, which a pay-ware may not have resulted in. Another interesting migration would’ve been the iPhoto-suite. Again, I think that this is something Apple wants to keep on OSX. Another possible cause is that they don’t want to compete with Google’s Picassa, who has so far also not made a mac-version.
- Just marketing? Of course, I could be reading too much into this and Safari is just a way for Apple to give people on Windows a little insight on what’s waiting for them on the iPhone and OSX. But with bugs already being discovered on the first day and Safari crashing for me after I click the bookmarks-button in XP, it’s early days yet. Of course the search (if it works like the new Beta for OSX) sure looks purty!
Generally speaking, I think this is a fairly low-risk strategy from Apple. With Safari they are not competing directly with real Microsoft money-makers like Office. It also doesn’t give of the signal that they are spending a lot on Windows-development. At the same time, the Apple shareholders were definitely underwhelmed with these developments, so time will tell whether this is a good move or enough of one.
But what do you think? Are there any things that I left out?
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I was asking myself the same question. I do agree on your points, and i would even mix some of them.
With the raise of the web 2.0 techs and future move towards rich client, the browser is becoming more and more the key base component.
Apple’s widgets are browser based techs, browser based rich client with offline autonomy and syncing capabilities (Adobe’s AIR aka Apollo) are getting out.
I mean, if you control a stable, speedy multi-platform and multi device (PCs or Phone, etc.) browser that has multimedia capabilities (thanks to Quicktime), you can do a lot and distribute many applications and services.
I even think that we are not so far to integrate itunes directly inside Safari (i mean technically speaking, not about Apple’s strategy). Say it differently, iTunes is one of the first application that shows Apollos’s concept a long time before Adobe talked about its concept.
What do you think ?
Fabrice, I don’t know enough about Apollo to give an informed opinion about its similarities to iTunes or how it can be integrated with the iPhone. However, I do agree that the potential for portable apps and services is limitless.
To go off on a little tangent, I also watched the part of the keynote where the Ldap ajax-app was displayed and I don’t get why developers are so unimpressed by it. What were they expecting? To launch a full core-image supported app like the one on Apple TV? Even the native apps are not that impressive, visually. I think independent developers can provide very useful functionality to users, especially if they can tie that together with apps users already have on the desktop.
Regarding iTunes on the phone, similar to having Skype on there, it is a strategic issue, as you mentioned. Sure, programming will most definitely allow it, but will AT&T and other carriers? I expect that all applications will possible, as long as it doesn’t undercut carriers’ bottom-line.
And to address your point about browsers, didn’t Job in the past make some sort of statement that after OSX there won’t be much innovation left in operating systems?
This could be a move towards more browser-development of applications and ultimately a displacement of the OS. That’s a very long view, but certainly companies like Google, Adobe, Salesforce, and Mozilla are all very busy in this field.
I completely agree on your last comment. i didn’t heard Steve Jobs talked about what you said, but in my opinion we’re going in that way.
Software development is going more and more on what they call “high language” and for me the browser is the last step as “high level framework” that encapsulates all the low job (which is actually already very high). Google and others are good examples.
Regarding my quote on Apollo (AIR), i was not comparing Itunes and AIR, neither making an opinion on AIR itself. I was just saying that for me iTunes is an example of app that use browser based features associated to local computer interaction and syncing features, like AIR and others new devkit start to offer.
He said something like “the desktop is dead ” in 1996. But he may have changed his mind by now. Leopard doesn’t seem that innovative in my opinion, but that’s another discussion.
I agree with you on how iTunes is really just a browser-window that interacts with the desktop really well. Here’s hoping there will be more of these apps!
There’s an interesting discussion, regarding “software” development for the iPhone, here. Much disappointment, but some intelligent comments about the possibilities also.
I can’t help wondering if developers are not so disappointed about the lack of an SDK, but rather about not being able to sell their apps through iTunes..
The main reason for porting Safari to Windows is that Steve Jobs needed One more thing for his keynote speech. Otherwise, you have most bases covered in your post!