Apple's Safari web browser may not be available on the majority of the world's personal
computers (at least not officially, that is), but it's
about to carve out a whole new market — on smartphones. Nokia has been working with Apple to develop a new browser for
its Series 60 phones, which will be based on
WebCore and JavaScriptCore, the open source components that are the basis for Safari. Apple recently
caused a stir in the open source community when it
broke away from the KHTML project (which developed the technology behind WebCore and JavaScript Core) to form its own
open source project focused on its WebKit environment, which includes WebCore and JavaScript Core. The new browser, to
be compatible with all Series 60 phones, including those from LG, Panasonic and Samsung, is expected to be available in
the first half of next year. Though Nokia says it will "actively participate in the open source community to further
develop and enhance these components," there's currently no info or source code related to the project on the
WebKit web site.
