Apple don't care

There's been some recent excellent discussion about Apple and their (continued) lack of engagement in the web community.

I started this blog post back in mid-2013, and sadly everything is still applicable. So I thoughts I'd get in on the action, since what good is blog, if only for listening to the sound of your own voice!

Context

Though this is specific to me, this is true with nearly all events that I know of that ask for engagement from the browser vendors.

The story is fairly well covered by others, but essentially the Mobilism conference (Europe's premiere mobile web development conference) had another vendor panel where Apple would be once again missing from the discussion.

When Tim Cook took over in 2010, he was interviewed by Gruber and was quoted saying (now that Steve Jobs was no longer driving the company) that they "would be doing things differently".

He was referring to giving the bloggersphere and Apple devs hands on previews of upcoming operating systems.

But this was the perfect opportunity to also open up to the web.

Five years on. Nothing has changed.

Safari

The real issue isn't Safari on the desktop, usage figures are low but also the platform isn't as much of a struggle as iOS.

Safari on iOS is one browser that you have to test on, given market penetration.

They don't have market dominance, but in the US or the UK, they do (stats entirely based on "stuff" on the web).

So what's the problem? Lots. Broken cache, lack of engagement in emerging standards, bespoke APIs (for good or otherwise) and more. Take your pick.

Another big issue with Safari is that it doesn't update often. It updates when the OS updates.

Then there is only one browser engine is WebKit. No choice on the platform, no competition, no drive to innovate on a standards level.

On joining the conversation

Why?

  • Apple said "they're doing things differently" - Gruber 2010
  • Apple don't care about the web. That's not the engineers or individual teams, but the general offering of the company does not care. o Bugs filed by the web community go to a black hole and aren't responded to o We have no visibility on future support of open technology, webrtc for instance o Accountability along with other browser vendors - never openly talk o Evangelists are not allowed to join the open conversations o Perception is they do their own thing without listening to the needs of developers - whether that's true or not, it's the perception that we have. Experts might know differently, but the majority of the web community chalk apple's (lack of) involvement as "that's just apple"

What do I want to see?

  • Developer relations that can be present at conferences outside of Apple.
  • Questions about interest and intended support for W3C technology can be answered.

Edited via mobile.

Drafts may be incomplete or entirely abandoned, so please forgive me. If you find an issue with a draft, or would like to see me write about something specifically, please try raising an issue.