The browser wars are starting again. Apple on Tuesday launched the public beta of Safari 4. The maker of the Mac is billing its latest browser version as the world’s fastest and most innovative for both Mac and Windows PCs. Analysts said Apple is right to brag about its latest innovations.
The Safari 4 beta comes with a slew of new features that aim to make browsing more intuitive and enjoyable. Top Sites, for example, offers a visual preview of
frequently visited pages. Full History Search lets you search through titles, Web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages. And Cover Flow lets you flip through Web history or bookmarks much the same way you flip through your album covers on the iPod.
“Apple created Safari to bring innovation, speed and open standards back into Web browsers, and today it takes another big step forward,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. “Safari 4 is the fastest and most efficient browser for Mac and Windows, with great integration of HTML 5 and CSS 3 Web standards that enables the next generation of interactive Web applications.”
The Lightning Round
According to Apple, the Nitro JavaScript engine in Safari 4 is the world’s most advanced browser technology. The claims are impressive. Apple said Nitro runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3, up to 30 times faster than Internet Explorer 7, and more than three times faster than Firefox 3. Apple also said Safari loads HTML Web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.
“It’s hard to innovate on the browsing experience these days. It’s simple. It’s familiar. It works. But Apple really has done some nice stuff with the Safari 4 beta,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at…