I just read a very interesting article on OS News about the potential for Safari to be the next IE6.  The author is exploring a future where Apple deliberately holds back on giving Safari certain features, especially on mobile phones and tablets.  Give it a read:

 http://www.osnews.com/story/23378/Will_Apple_Embrace_the_Web_No_

The argument is essentially that the web, being a platform that by its nature encourages platform independence, is a problem for Apple (and for Microsoft too).  Apple’s business model revolves around selling hardware and content, and it does this by making iTunes an exclusive hub.  All applications, music, videos and books that you want as a user has to come through it.  If the browser was allowed to become so fast and so integrated with the native operating system that you could do everything with a great user experience that native apps can do, then suddenly Apple’s content kingdom falls apart.  It’s not difficult to see the truth in this argument, and the implications it has.

I think we’re fortunate to have so much competition in the mobile space at the moment such that Apple can’t easily have an iPhone / iTunes monopoly – if that happened then yeah, Safari probably would be the next IE6 and we’d all be held hostage to the iTunes ecosystem.

The great thing about Google is that its business model ensures that it will continue to push the web as a platform.  With the Chrome browser, Google is pushing javascript to its speed limits (http://asserttrue.blogspot.com/2010/05/chrome-5-aces-browser-benchmarks.html), so much so that it makes IE8 look like an elephant with concrete feet, and thanks to Firefox, Google and Apple, HTML5 and CSS3 are improving the presentation layer radically.  

It’s now the “hooks” into the underlying native OS that future web browsers need (like access to the cameras, motion tracking, 3D graphics acceleration libraries, contacts/phone/sms, etc) to enable the next generation of web applications.  Frameworks like PhoneGap are solving this to some extent and we will no doubt see Google give us the kitchen sink with Chrome and Android.   But will we see Microsoft and Apple step up to the plate on the iPhone or Windows Phone 7?  I tend to doubt it.

It is an interesting time in the world of mobile phones, smartphone use is increasing as numbers of consumers move to a phone capable of browsing the web, email, and of course the now growing desire for apps. Thanks to our friends at Apple the world is now mad keen for next to useless apps on their devices. Now that is probably a bit harsh of course but of all the people I know they use about 2 apps (maps & directories) regularly the rest are cute little apps.

The question I ask is where and when are people going to move on mass to using their mobile phone as a business productivity tool!

Anyhow I digress, the real reason I am writing this is because it was with great pleasure that I received word from our developers that we now have Rype working on Google Android. A few tweaks to our Webkit version initially developed for the iPhone and we have it. 

This has been our biggest challenge at Rype, choosing where to invest. We want to be a native application on any many devices as we can but choosing which ones is hard. The market is changing rapidly and with Rype being a business productivity tool we are watching with interest to see where our market heads.

Our primary markets of trade based business people, tend to be inclined towards the iphone hence why we went there early. However the team at Rype are quietly backing Google Android to make a significant dent in Apple’s market share due to its open nature.

Of course we are still firmly camped in the Windows Mobile sector and find it very interesting that everyone is quietly forgetting about the huge number of Windows Mobile devices in the marketplace. I bet you the team at Microsoft are secretly liking the underdog tag in this space!

So now that we are running on Android we are exciting about watching what Google and the phone manufacturers push to market in the coming months. I for one plan on grabbing an HTC Magic as soon as I can.