SaaS shafts Safari

It must be embarrassing for Apple's browser team to be snubbed by the fastest growing segment of the software world, SaaS.

The other day I was getting a demonstration from a software as a service company, which was using an online collaboration company, WebEx, to show me its product. I was using my Mac and Safari, both of which prevented me from using the service. I had to switch to my Windows laptop and Internet Explorer to see the demo.

The last time I tried to use my Zoho account from my Mac with Safari I was reminded I needed to use Firefox. To post my blogs here from a Mac I need to use Firefox. Safari is verboten.

Earlier this week I was chatting with the folks at Clarizen Inc., an Isareli-based project management SaaS vendor (more on that company later) about its tools. In the course of the discussion, Gil Heiman, director of communities, said Clarizen supports IE, Firefox and Chrome, "which is turning out to be a nice business browser."

However, Macintosh users who regularly use Apple's Safari browser "fall back on Firefox," he said.

Quentin Gallivan, CEO of Pivotlink Corp. in San Francisco, told me his company currently does not support Safari, either. Mac users need to use IE or Firefox.

It's not as if Safari is a wretched browser or has a microscopic market share. It's very fast and works better on the Mac than Firefox. And the latest numbers I've seen put it around nine percent, well ahead of Chrome. Still, SaaS support remains spotty, at best.

Kevin Ishiguro, CWO of Kutano Corp. in Burnaby, B.C., which will ask Mac users of its new social-networking tool to use Firefox, told me Safari is not friendly to plug-ins that many online services depend on.

Is the plug-in problem part of Apple's strategy to limit Safari's add-on features and, therefore, appeal to SaaS providers? Or is it a lack skill by Apple's browser team?

What might save Safari for SaaS is mobility. The iPhone is the leading mobile device to access the Web and the top browser for the iPhone is Safari. Clarizen's Heiman said, "the only way we'd consider Safari is for the iPhone."

Gallivan agreed and said he personally believes the iPhone "is going to be a big enterprise mobility tool."

However, that doesn't mean Safari will be the browser of choice for SaaS users. Apple has recently opened the iPhone for use with other browsers. I get the sense when one of them fits the need, SaaS providers will flock to it and gladly leave Apple's product in the dust. For SaaS it's any browser but Safari.