Is Apple Planning on Merging iTunes and Safari?

[Wiley John Wright]

Is Apple planning on merging two of its biggest applications in the near future? According to a new rumor posted by Three Guys and a Podcast, iTunes and Safari may become one application before the year is out.

Apple has not done well in the battle for web browser supremacy. Currently, Safari doesn’t even have a 5% market share yet. Google’s Chrome, a relatively new web browser on the other hand, has already surpassed Safari with a 14% market share.

iTunes is one of Apple’s biggest moneymakers. With billions of dollars in yearly revenue, it’s currently the largest online music retailer in the world. So how might Apple bolster its flailing web browser? One solution may turn out to be pairing it with iTunes.

Rumors have been circulating for some time now that Apple would be expanding iTunes into the cloud. So far these rumors haven’t turned out to be true, but if Apple does plan on moving iTunes into the cloud, then the massive data center in North Carolina currently under construction, will surely play a pivotal part in the plan. It has yet to go online, but Apple obviously has plans for the site. Apple also purchased the Lala music streaming site in 2009, but they have not used the technology for anything as of yet.

If Apple does merge iTunes and Safari, it would be an unprecedented event. iTunes and Safari are both valuable commodities individually and squeezing them into one application doesn’t make much sense. iTunes already feels rather crowded with so much content available. With music, videos, apps, books and podcasts readily available, just to name a few, merging all of that with Safari would just make for an even more cluttered application. For a company that prides itself on minimalism, this would be counter to that philosophy. Apple has a good thing going with iTunes. Hopefully, no one at Apple will be foolish enough to mess with the golden goose.

Source: Three Guys and a Podcast

[GellBrake'rrrr]

Crazy, but that would be interestingly awesome!!!! Still very difficult to have any idea why they would do such a thing, and how beneficial it would be for the end user. Yet, most of us here on this forum know how /little/ they actually care about the "end user"........

[klouud]

merging the two would be stupid. And I love safari, it is my browser of choice, even on my iPhone.

[baRRy boRRis]

Oh dear. I genuinely can't see the benefit of this. If anything; it would make me move away from Safari as my one and only browser.

[dale1v]

If Apple do, it will be the stupidest thing they've done in a long time. Bloat + bloat = ?!

[djrbx]

I don't really post much on here but I do have to say that Safari currently is my #3 browser on my system. Chrome then Firefox being a close second. If apple decides that they will merge both Safari and iTunes, well I will drop using Safari. I honestly do not like iTunes. Granted it's not as bad on my Macbook as if it were installed on a Windows system, but it's still pretty bloated. Much more if they integrated both software into one.

Just my 2 cents

[feidhlim1986]

People are always throwing around the word "bloat" when iTunes is involved. Can someone explain what they mean? What's your problem with it? Do you want 5 different apps to sync your iPod with?

I see iTunes as the one stop app for arranging, downloading and syncing my media for my iPhone and before that my iPod.
However a merger with Safari is stupid, just to try and increase market share. It's the small price to pay for converting windows users. They were probably used to Firefox on windows so they'll use firefox on mac

[onlinegamesnz]

People are always throwing around the word "bloat" when iTunes is involved. Can someone explain what they mean? What's your problem with it? Do you want 5 different apps to sync your iPod with?

I see iTunes as the one stop app for arranging, downloading and syncing my media for my iPhone and before that my iPod.
However a merger with Safari is stupid, just to try and increase market share. It's the small price to pay for converting windows users. They were probably used to Firefox on windows so they'll use firefox on mac

+1 itunes is allgood. learn how to use it. I dont see why apple would bother with this. As the article says itunes is already the worlds #1 music download store. It generates enough income alone. Why worry about safari?

[feidhlim1986]

+1 itunes is allgood. learn how to use it. I dont see why apple would bother with this. As the article says itunes is already the worlds #1 music download store. It generates enough income alone. Why worry about safari?

It sounds like Apple are trying to make Safari the #1 Browser by tacking it into iTunes. What do you call it though? iTunes? People won't know it's also a browser. Safari? People won't know it's where they sync their iPods.

[Dazz187s]

Really surprised that safari isn't popular. It's so easy to use, looks pretty too. Eh, good to be a rare individual.

Wonder how this combination would go, ideas are endless


Sent from my iPhone using ModMyi

[j.eck.art.3d]

If this happens an anti-trust suit would come to the rescue. A company is not allowed to force a provisional product on it's users. Think about the suit Microsoft got slapped with by forcing IE into operating systems. As it is I am annoyed by the fact that EVERY TIME I upgrade iTunes, I get a pop-up that automatically has "install safari" selected.

Steve, I don't want your crappy browser. I'm a Firefox user through and through. Now stop trying to jam it down my throat. If you want more market share do what you did with mobile devices INNOVATE and then users will CHOOSE your product. Nobody likes a pretentious bully.

[delusion950]

Safari as browser sucks but I like the idea of 2 in one.

[thazsar]

I think it'd be sweet to sync my iPhones & iPad from any computer at anytime if iTunes and Safari were combined. Then my iDevices wouldn't be restricted to one main computer. Actually, you might not even need to own a computer if it was all cloud-based!

[iPod]

This would be stupid! I do not want to have another web browser in order to sync things to my iPod. iTunes is already slow enough without slow Safari

[obtrunco]

Crazy, but that would be interestingly awesome!!!! Still very difficult to have any idea why they would do such a thing, and how beneficial it would be for the end user. Yet, most of us here on this forum know how /little/ they actually care about the "end user"........

Awesome? Not at all unless it's only available for Macs. I don't want it in Windows because as the reporter said, it's too cluttered. It will bog down the system.

[BenderRodriguez]

This would be ridiculously retarded

The fact that iTunes crashes a ton already and the fact the Safari does to sometimes only proves the reason why this is stupid, how about implanting them both to 64 bit mode first at least this would help against the crashes

stupid apple

[coolguy742]

I hate safari on both my PC and iPod, google chrome FTW!


Sent from my iPod touch using ModMyi

[mahatmt]

Maybe Apple will continue to improve their products all the way to obsolete hell.

[LSZ33]

I like safari & firefox. I mainly use safari, but if I'm downloading stuff, I use firefox only because of 2 plugins: downloadthemall & flashgot. If safari had those, I wouldn't need firefox. As far as uniting the two, I think everyone's jumping to conclusions. My opinion is that they're doing it in preparation for the long awaited cloud.

[leathelisor]

I love safari, it is my browser of choice, even on my iPhone.

Lol...don't have much choice there do we