SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. launched a version of its Safari Web browser for Windows-based PCs on Monday, adding yet another tentacle to its multi-pronged encroachment of Microsoft Corp.'s turf.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs gestures as he talks about Mac OSX Leopard selling for $129, at the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Monday, June 11, 2007. [AP]

"Safari is another Trojan horse that introduces an innovation of Apple to the Windows community and entices them to the Mac platform," said Tim Bajarin, an industry analyst at Creative Strategies, a technology consultancy.

The free program is the latest move by Apple to expand its reach beyond its Macintosh computers and, at the same time, attract new converts to its products. The upcoming iPhone seeks to be another draw.

In fact, Apple said Monday it would run a full version of Safari on the iPhone, thus allowing developers to create Web-based applications for the hybrid smartphone-iPod. That new opportunity for third-party applications on the iPhone veered a bit from Apple's earlier stance, when it said it wouldn't support programs from outside developers due to security concerns.

Apple's fortunes have surged in recent years as it has opened up its products to non-Mac users. Previously, Apple made its iPod media player and iTunes Store compatible with Windows, introducing Apple's touch to millions of Microsoft Windows users.

The slickness of its gadget designs notwithstanding, the key to Apple's success and reputation for ease of use is its software and how well it integrates with its hardware.

"There are a lot of connections between our products and here's one more," Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller said of the Windows version of Safari. "And the more people who like our applications, the more it might mean they'll buy other products from us."

The strategy is apparently paying off. Mac sales have grown significantly over the past two years, pushing its slice of the PC market in the United States from 3.5 percent in 2004 to 4.9 percent in 2006, according to IDC, a market research firm.

About half of the Macs sold today in Apple's retail stores are to people new to the Mac platform.

If Safari wins over more users of Windows-based machines, the iPhone - a combination cell phone, iPod and wireless Web-enabled mobile device - could also ultimately become more appealing.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs' announcement Monday of Safari on the iPhone essentially guarantees developers that any Web-based applications they build for Safari would also be accessible and compatible with the highly anticipated mobile gadget.

"What we've got here is the most innovative browser in the world and the most powerful browser in the world," Jobs said during his keynote speech at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference.

Safari, which was released a few years ago for Apple's Macintosh computers, has captured about 5 percent of the world's market share for Internet browsers with more than 18 million users, Jobs said.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer is the predominant browser with a 78 percent share, while Mozilla's Firefox has rapidly climbed to gain about 15 percent of the market, he said.

Jobs claimed Safari performs twice as fast as its competitors.

Never shy about throwing jabs at his rival in Redmond, Wash., the iconic executive drew hoots and laughter as he kicked off the Cupertino-based company's developer conference with a new video patterned after Apple's "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials.

The event in San Francisco, which drew more than 5,000 developers, focused mainly on the next upgrade to the Mac OS X operating system, dubbed Leopard. The upgrade is set to released in October for $129.

The new video featured the PC character pretending to be Jobs. Dressed in Jobs' typical jeans-and-black mock turtle neck outfit, the character said he was quitting because Leopard was getting lost amid the "tens of dozens" of copies sold of Microsoft's Vista operating system upgrade.

1

2