Apple’s Tussle with Mozilla Explored

March 24th, 2008 at 3:00 PM - News by John Martellaro

Appleis decision to offer the Safari Web browser to Windows users, via the iTunes Updater, could hit Mozillais Firefox hard, according to one solution provider.

Appleis controversial decision to offer Safari within the iTunes updater has a lot of people talking, including the Mozilla Group. Mozilla CEO John Lilly recently said in his blog that Appleis tactics are wrong. Subseqently he explained that thereis nothing wrong with competition; rather itis about clarity when it comes to presenting users with update options that turn out to be new software.

One solution provider, according to ChannelWeb, has weighed in on the Apple move. "This could be a fairly substantial blow to Mozillais Firefox," said Tyler Dikman, CEO of Cooltronics in Tampa, Florida. "Even if Safari gets 10 percent share on PC browsers thatis pretty significant. I donit think it will put anyone out of business, but it sends a serious wake up call that Firefox isnit the only browser thatis different. It shows that there is another player in the game and a lot of money to be made in the browser business."

With Firefox growing in polularity on the Windows platform, Apple may have surmised that this is a good time to get in on the trend away from Microsoftis Internet Explorer.

Mr. Dikman went on to explore Appleis prospects. "Apple is winning a lot of small battles and these small battles add up," he said. "If people use an Apple browser for music they may dive in and buy a Mac computer. I think that Apple is realizing that by diversifying into so many areas they will eventually be able to take over the standard PC computing world. I donit think it will happen tomorrow or next year, but a lot of my clients are starting to ask for Macs."

Some writers have said that because Safari is a superior browser, thereis nothing wrong with what Apple is doing, but thatis not the issue according to others. How this all plays out with Windows customers themselves is still being explored.