According to Apple, the new Safari browser has been an unprecedented success. The company announced that within thefirst 48 hours over a million copies had been downloaded. Safari, which is compatible with both Windows XP and Vista as well as the Mac is claimed by Apple to be “the world’sfastest and easiest-to-use browser,” even though it’s still a beta. The boost lifts Safari into third place in the browser market, with 1.6% of the total, behind Firefox and, ofcourse, the behemoth of Internet Explorer. Analysts have speculated that many of the downloads might be from people who are simply curious about Safari, rather than those seriously interestedin using it, and security issues have already been identified in the browser. Others feel that Safari’s appeal might be the fact that it will work with the PC, the Mac, and in particularthe much-anticipated iPhone. “It is an attempt to give the developer’s community, people developing Web 2.0 content with Ajax and such, it isto give them a tool to use on the PC to develop applications for the iPhone,” said analyst Van Baker. The iPhone is likely to attract a lot of developers, making Safari especiallyattractive.
