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Google Chrome now works on iOS

techcrunch.com

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Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#41

Post by mtgx »

nextstep wrote: post #10

But, Chrome on iOS will still be a "second class citizen" the way Opera mini and the other browsers on the AppStore. If you want to open a link in Chrome, you will need to copy/paste the URL, no "Open in Chrome" functionality like Safari has. For better or for worse, Apple has not opened up system-wide integration of third party apps, and I don't seem them allowing you to change your default browser anytime soon.

Exactly what the users should be requesting from Apple. You're lucky Apple at least tries to be competitive on the browser front, but if they didn't do that, iOS users and developers would be in big trouble by now.

Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#42

Post by [deleted] »

cema wrote: post #31
mistercow wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's pretty nauseating about it is that it's exactly the kind of anti-competitive crap that Microsoft pulled in the first browser war, only more so.

More so. But Apple tends to get good grades on the perception front, which is no less important for the general public than the technical front.

[deleted]

Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#44

Post by tedunangst »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #23
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, it's WebKit. Not quite the same WebKit, but close enough. It's not like they are using completely different rendering engines.

There is no WebGL and other HTML5 features that Chrome has. Also, not only there is no V8 JS Engine support, but I suspect that Apple's NitroJS engine won't work in Chrome because it probably uses UIWebView to render sites.

Well, WebGL doesn't work in Chrome on Android either.

Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#45

Post by mtgx »

mbrubeck wrote: post #18
nthitz wrote: post #3

Does it use it's own rendering engine or is it just interface on top of a UIWebView?

Vivian Li Cromwell from the Chrome team confirms that it uses the system rendering engine (presumably via UIWebView) and does not include the V8 JIT: https://twitter.com/viviancromwell/status/218402587760795648

Well that's unfortunate. And didn't we learn last year that Apple left WebView twice as slow as the browser? Or did they fix that?

Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#46

Post by AlexandrB »

recoiledsnake wrote: post #38
thechut wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a bunch of walled-garden bullshit. It's not even clear that having a full featured Chrome would hurt Apple in anyway

>It's not even clear that having a full featured Chrome would hurt Apple in anyway Perhaps this is how Apple sees it: The browser might create a SDK that makes web apps work more like native apps thus resulting in reducing Apple's control over apps. Also, look at things like NaCl and how plugins like Flash might be enabled by browsers with rendering engines.

> The browser might create a SDK that makes web apps work more like native apps thus resulting in reducing Apple's control over apps.

This claim come up occasionally. It always seems silly because web apps were the ONLY apps in the original iOS. Native apps came later and only with pressure from the development community.

Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#47

Post by tubbo »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #6
nthitz wrote: post #3

Does it use it's own rendering engine or is it just interface on top of a UIWebView?

Apps on the store have to use UIWebView, which of course doesn't get the Nitro JavaScript engine.

They "have to"? I was under the impression that you had a choice of UIWebView and your own custom implementation. Are they really going to block sales of an app if it has an alternative JS engine?

Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#48

Post by nextstep »

cooldeal wrote: post #15

The headline should read Google Chrome Skin now works on iOS. For all intents and purposes, the heart of the browser, i.e the rendering and scripting engines are not running on the iPad or iPhone. Would it be accurate to state that IE now works on the iPad if Microsoft ported the IE browser chrome(UI) to the iPad?

A browser is way more than a rendering engine. Even if this app was just a skin for UIWebView that incorporated Chrome sync and the look and feel of desktop Chrome, why not call it Chrome for iOS?

Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#49

Post by recoiledsnake »

grhino wrote: post #37
cooldeal wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There was plenty of sounds from them at the time when they wanted to release a Firefox for iOS Really? Care to link to some of them?

https://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9188721/Mozilla_Forg... http://blog.mozilla.org/mobile/2010/09/28/firefox-home-looki... I have not heard them use the monopoly complaints against Apple. I'm sure Mozilla is worried about Apple, but is using a different strategy since an argument that Apple is abusing monopoly is weak or underdeveloped. Mozilla might believe that Apple is a better actor in the open web space tha…

From the Mozilla blog post you linked:

>We are working to bring as much of your Firefox experience as possible to Firefox Home. People have asked about adding more browser-like features to Firefox Home, but there are technical and logistical restrictions that make it difficult, if not impossible, to build the full Firefox browser for the iPhone. We are focused on building Firefox Home as a rich, cloud-based application and making it a valuable product that people will continue to love and use.

Compare it to the tenor of this post:

http://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2012/05/09/windows-on-arm-users...

See the difference? Mozilla didn't even make a call for browser choice officially on the iPad before resigning itself to making just Firefox Home and Sync. Also, if you notice, Mozilla hasn't mentioned Apple or the iPad/iPhone even once in their long blog post. My guess is that is because it undermines the point they're trying to make.

>I'm sure Mozilla is worried about Apple, but is using a different strategy since an argument that Apple is abusing monopoly is weak or underdeveloped.

Yet, we keep hearing things like "There is no tablet market, there is only an iPad market" and then Mozilla tries to go after the platform that has 0% share leaving the 800lb gorilla alone, maybe because that generates the most PR?

Re: Google Chrome now works on iOS

#50

Post by recoiledsnake »

AlexandrB wrote: post #46
recoiledsnake wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's not even clear that having a full featured Chrome would hurt Apple in anyway Perhaps this is how Apple sees it: The browser might create a SDK that makes web apps work more like native apps thus resulting in reducing Apple's control over apps. Also, look at things like NaCl and how plugins like Flash might be enabled by browsers with rendering engines.

> The browser might create a SDK that makes web apps work more like native apps thus resulting in reducing Apple's control over apps. This claim come up occasionally. It always seems silly because web apps were the ONLY apps in the original iOS. Native apps came later and only with pressure from the development community.

>It always seems silly because web apps were the ONLY apps in the original iOS

I don't know why it seems silly to reckon that Apple's priorities on web apps has changed now that they have their own app store and control over it. You mean Apple's opinion on web apps has to be unchanged from the original iPhone?

When was this page last updated? http://www.apple.com/webapps/

Also, even after Jobs' Flash post more than two years blasting Flash and promising HTML5 improvements to replace it, we still haven't seen much improvement in HTML5 in iOS, with things like audio still suffering. If there were no App store, Apple would've easily devoted more resources to this.

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