Opera May Pull Out Of Mac Market In The Face Of Free Safari From Apple

by , 3:00 PM EST, January 28th, 2003

ZDNet is reporting that Opera may pull out of the Mac market. Opera makes the multi-platform commercial Web browser of the same name. Fans of the product have touted Opera's speed and rich feature set, which have allowed the company to charge money for a Web browser in a market dominated by free browsers from both Microsoft and AOL's Netscape division.

According to ZDNet, free competition from Apple itself may force the company to pull out of the Mac market. Apple released its own Apple-branded browser called Safari earlier this month at MWSF 2003. The company based Safari on the open source KHTML rendering engine, and the browser has been a big hit with customers so far. In reaction, Opera has asked Apple to consider licensing Opera in place of the KHTML engine for Safari, an offer Apple is not likely to consider. From ZDNet:

"I'm not a quitter, and our company isn't a quitter, but it really is up to Apple," said Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive of privately held Opera. "The Mac platform may not be viable for us any longer."

Specifically, Tetzchner said that he had asked Apple whether it would be willing to license Opera either to replace KHTML, or to supplement the current Safari version, which Apple said is a stripped-down affair with a minimalist interface and limited feature set.

"We have contacted Apple and asked them if they want a third-party browser, and we'll see what the answer is," Tetzchner said. "They could say we want to use Opera as the core engine. If they want KHTML as a simple little browser, and also something more advanced, we would be happy to provide it. Obviously, if we don't get any positive signs from Apple, then we have to think about it."

An Apple spokesman said, "We think Safari is one of the best and most innovative browsers in the world, and it seems our customers do too," the Mac maker said in a statement. "No one is making Mac users choose Safari over Opera--they're doing it of their own free will--and Opera's trashing of Safari sounds like sour grapes to us." Analysts gave Opera slim chances of success with this line of defense.

[...]

"It's not a platform where we've earned a lot of money," said Tetzchner. "It's a business decision. We have been putting a lot of resources into the Apple version and think we have a much better product, but it's still a question whether it's worth it."

Tetzchner said Opera engineers had been redoubling their efforts on the Mac version in an effort to catch up to Opera's version for Windows. He said the company would make a decision on the fate of Opera for the Mac "in the next couple of months."

There is more information in the full article.

The Mac Observer Spin:

There is virtually no chance whatsoever that Apple would shift development of Safari away from KHTML. Above and beyond the resources already spent on developing Safari so far, Mac users have overwhelmingly voiced their support for the new browser as it is. Why spend money on licensing another engine to retool an already successful product based on a free open source engine? Opera is a much more feature-rich product than Safari is today, but it is likely that Apple will narrow that gap quickly going forward.

This news is not going to be taken well by Opera's Mac adherents, and we definitely understand the plight of Opera as a company. It's hard to compete against a free product that will be bundled with all new Macs in a market as small as the Mac market. iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, Sherlock, and Safari have all hurt various developers. It frankly sucks that this has to happen, and we don't approve of the way Apple handled some of those apps (iTunes and Sherlock 3, to be specific), but it is the nature of this business. Apple has made the decision to make sure the Mac platform has some best-in-class software, and is doing so by providing that software itself. The results, so far, have been good for the platform as a whole.

ZDNet Article