I was doing my regular rounds of the inter-pipes today, and I find this gem. Who would have thought of all the exciting new products he could announce, Steve Jobs chose to unveil a simple browser - and the media/blog coverage is decidedly low-key.
But I think it's a master-stroke. Steve seems to be very much aware that the web is becoming the new platform - and instead of fearing it and it's effect on the Mac (admittedly, he need not bother that much - Apple has other breadwinners like iPod and iTunes, probably iPhone too - so who cares if the Mac market isn't so great?), he's using some of his weapons to take the fight to Apple's archrival, Microsoft.
Well, safari obviously looks much better than IE, rather a bit un-windows, but pretty nevertheless. But I think what will follow the browser is important - probably all sorts of iTunes shortcuts, tweaks, etc, and probably even iPhone connectivity apps. So effectively, Apple released a trojan horse that could seriously hurt MS where it hurts most - on the web. The irony hopefully is not lost on MS, because it's bundling with IE with Windows that killed Netscape, and it's interesting to see a competitor choosing precisely the same route to launch a direct attack.
Or, perhaps, I could be wrong here, probably Apple is just making sure that if enough cross-platform browsers get a substantial install base on windows, there is much lesser motivation for MS to break the web with incompatible formats. But then, Firefox is already doing a good job at that. And, since the Apple site quotes directly that it's 1.6 times faster than Firefox, there must be more to it than protecting interoperability. Interesting times ahead!