Did Apple Just Kill Safari for Windows?

By Douglas Perry
published

Apple may not have much incentive to continue offering Safari for Windows users.

Apple Insider found that Safari 6 could officially drop Windows support, especially since information about Safari 5.1.7 for Windows isn't readily accessible on Apple's website anymore and the download has been moved to a support page (opens in new tab). So, if you really want to run Safari on your PC, you can still have it if you are willing to go the extra mile. There is no Windows PC version download link on the Safari page (opens in new tab) anymore.

A quick check with StatCounter reveals that Safari market share remains rather insignificant in the big picture and has stagnated since April at about 7 percent, while the other Webkit browser Chrome has assumed market leadership with 32.76 percent in June. IE was listed with 32.31 percent and Firefox with 24.56 percent.

Interestingly, StatCounter lists Mac OS X market share also at about 7 percent. Even if we do not know how that number relates to Safari browser usage, we can guess that Safari has a very loyal user base on its home platform. In the end, Apple's decision to drop Windows support could simply be a business decision and a way to save money and focus more on the features for the Apple platforms.

Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback

59 Comments Comment from the forums
  • memadmax
    Safari sucks, Firefox rules...

    Gaaattoraaaaaade....
    Reply
  • sephmeister
    People actually use Safari on Windows? I always assumed they accidentally installed it with Itunes...
    Reply
  • the3dsgeek
    about time
    Reply
  • subgum
    What... Safari is on Windows?
    Reply
  • oneblackened
    Can't say I care, Safari sucks in general, even worse than IE.
    Reply
  • gorz
    Safari is know to be the slowest browser you can get for a windows pc so in the end, who really cares about this?
    Reply
  • ed_tumb
    Yeah... my friend (who love love the Apple's products so much... I know you know people like this too) installed Safari in my PC without my permission... and I found out that I don't like it... Firefox ruled, until it became so heavy to be operated on my PC and I switched to Chrome... Chrome are very much lighter than Firefox...
    Reply
  • blazorthon
    ed_tumbYeah... my friend (who love love the Apple's products so much... I know you know people like this too) installed Safari in my PC without my permission... and I found out that I don't like it... Firefox ruled, until it became so heavy to be operated on my PC and I switched to Chrome... Chrome are very much lighter than Firefox...
    Chrome is far heavier than FF, at least it is right now. Whether or not it is faster for some things doesn't change the fact that it uses far more RAM and uses more and more as the tab count increases, especially with Flash-ridden sites.
    Reply
  • s3anister
    Took them long enough. The people that are smart enough don't use safari and the people too ignorant to know better, regardless, still shouldn't have to use such a horrible browser.
    Reply
  • oneblackened
    blazorthonChrome is far heavier than FF, at least it is right now. Whether or not it is faster for some things doesn't change the fact that it uses far more RAM and uses more and more as the tab count increases, especially with Flash-ridden sites.Agreed. Chrome uses a stupid amount of RAM. One tab, ONE TAB, uses 90MB of RAM. 2 plugins in addition? 150MB.
    Reply