Monthly Archives: January 2009

Macworld has published a review of the latest iPhone browsers- “While there are many questions I’m used to answering about my iPhone—from “What’s your favorite app?” to “How’s the battery life?”—there’s one type of question I never thought I’d have to answer: “What’s your favorite iPhone browser?” Until just recently, the only possible answer to that question was “Mobile Safari,” because that’s all there was.

But now, there are more than half-a-dozen browsers available from the App Store from companies other than Apple. This sudden plethora of new browsers results from Apple’s decision to allow third-party browsers in the App Store—as long as they’re based on WebKit, Apple’s open source browser engine.

So why might you want a browser other than Safari on your iPhone? Each of the eight browsers reviewed here has found a rationale for its existence, whether that be faster page loading by skipping images, implementing tabbed browsing, or some other such reason. But how well do they work, and can any of these alternatives supplant Safari’s role as the primary Web browser for iPhone users? To answer those questions, I loaded eight browsers on my iPhone, then started testing…” Thanks to Jon.

I am not a huge Apple fan and probably never will be. I can appreciate the quality of the products and the design credentials, but still struggle with the pricing of many Apple products.

All of the talk about Steve Job’s health has had a dramatic effect on the share price and to some people this has seemed like madness, but I’m not so sure. When I think about an Apple product, at some point in my thinking process Mr Jobs pops up. He is thought of as inventing the iPod by the general public and the same applies to the iPhone and many of the newer laptops and desktop products, but that is far from a correct analysis. He is the person who people see when they think of Apple and as such they tend to think that he has a hand in every aspect of what the company produces. People don’t think of large companies as factories; they think of them as one man instructing a group of ten people around a table every day.

The misinterpretation of his achievements are not as important as the presence the man has, and the skilful way in which he has become a figurehead like few other leaders of large corporations have managed. Bill Gates was Microsoft, but only in a geeky kind of way to the mass public. Steve Jobs has a quality which many people seem to admire and is obviously a skilled communicator, but he has something else that makes him so important to the Apple machine. I have no idea what that something else is, but he’s got it.

I’m sounding like a fan boy here, but I have to give credit for what the man has achieved. There is little doubt that the fortunes of Steve Jobs are inextricably linked to the fortunes of Apple and this may worry some investors in the long term. Companies are flexible and have the ability to survive a crisis. People cannot always do the same…