First, Dvorak’s take on the browser strategy is the same as mine (read yesterday’s post):
“… this particular browser is necessary if anyone wants to develop applications for the iPhone. Apparently, third-party iPhone applications will be nothing more than browser-based applications running on the Safari browser… Apple seems intent on locking down the iPhone to real application development, where programmers can actually go into the phone’s software and fiddle with whatever they want. The company is keeping all that power to itself.”
He also offers another interesting perspective on why the Search era could have opened up a new revenue stream for browser makers:
In the upper right-hand corner of a Firefox browser, for example, you’ll find a little search box. Look at the Safari browser; it is there, too. That little box brings the Mozilla organization, the developers and promoters of the Firefox browser, more than $50 million in income — free money. This number has been jumping substantially over the years as people get used to typing casual searches into the little box. The search then goes over to Google (or other engines that users can select), and if that search translates to a hit on an advertisement, Mozilla gets a cut.
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