Apple today announced the public beta of Safari 4, claiming that it is the world?s fastest and most innovative web browser for Mac and Windows PCs.

The Nitro engine in Safari 4 runs JavaScript 4.2 times faster than Safari 3, Apple says. New features in Safari 4 include Top Sites, for a visual preview of frequently visited pages; Full History Search, to search through titles, web addresses and the complete text of recently viewed pages; Cover Flow, to flip through web history or bookmarks; and Tabs on Top, to make tabbed browsing easier. The browser also features the Full Page Zoom option for a closer look at any website without degrading the quality of the site?s layout and text and a built-in web developer tools to debug.

"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," said Philip Schiller, Apple?s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

Apple also claims that the Safari loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.

Safari 4 includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies so web-based applications can store information locally without an Internet connection, and is the first browser to support advanced CSS Effects that enable polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks. Safari 4 is also the first browser to pass the Web Standards Project?s Acid3 test, which examines how well a browser adheres to CSS, JavaScript, XML and SVG web standards that are specifically designed for dynamic web applications.



Safari for Mac, Windows, iPhone and iPod touch are all built on Apple?s WebKit browser engine. Apple developed WebKit as an open source project to create a browser engine and to advance the adoption of modern web standards. Most recently, WebKit led the introduction of HTML 5 and CSS 3 web standards. The industry?s newest browsers are based on WebKit including Google Chrome, the Google Android browser, the Nokia Series 60 browser and Palm webOS.

Safari 4 is a public beta for both Mac OS X and Windows and is available immediately as a free download at www.apple.com/safari.

Safari 4 for Mac OS X requires Mac OS X Leopard version 10.5.6 and Security Update 2009-001 or Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.11, a minimum 256MB of memory, and is designed to run on any Intel-based Mac or a Mac with a PowerPC G5, G4 or G3 processor and built-in FireWire. Safari 4 for Windows requires Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista, a minimum 256MB of memory and a system with at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor. Full system requirements and more information on Safari 4 can be found at www.apple.com/safari.