Apple’s Safari Could Hit Mozilla Hard
Apple’s decision to offer its own Safari Web browser as a software update for its popular iTunes music service and QuickTime video software could hit rival Mozilla’s Firefox browser hard.
That’s the word from solution providers reacting to Apple’s controversial decision to tightly tie its music and video software for the first time with its Safari Web browser. The move comes with the first version of the five-year-old Safari Macintosh browser released for the more dominant Windows market. That Macintosh version, released on March 18, apparently triggered Apple to offer Safari as software update for iTunes and QuickTime.
“This could be a fairly substantial blow to Mozilla’s Firefox,” said Tyler Dikman, CEO of Cooltronics, a Tampa, Fla. solution provider, reacting to Apple’s decision to push Safari version 3.1 for Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X to users as an update. “Even if Safari gets 10 percent share on PC browsers that’s pretty significant. I don’t think it will put anyone out of business, but it sends a serious wake up call that Firefox isn’t the only browser that’s different. It shows that there is another player in the game and a lot of money to be made in the browser business.”
Read more…
