Apple celebrates 1m Windows Safari downloads

GLOBAL - Windows users have downloaded more than 1m copies of Windows Safari in the first 48 hours after it was launched on Monday, Apple revealed.

The application is currently in beta. The final release is slated for October.

In a keynote presentation at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday, chief executive Steve Jobs said that he expects the Windows version to grow Safari's overall market share.

The browser currently runs on 4.8 per cent of the world's computers all of which are Macs. Microsoft's Internet Explorer leads the pack with 78.7 per cent, followed by Mozilla's Firefox with 14.5 per cent, according to data gathered by net traffic measurement vendor NetApplications.

Citing benchmark studies, Apple claims that the browser performs faster its competitors in loading basic html, executing JavaScript and overall launch time.

The launch didn't go entirely smooth however. Security researchers instantly started subjecting the application to a close security inspection and it took only hours before the first vulnerabilities were reported.

Early Thursday morning Apple issued a first update to the browser that repairs there updates, all of which could allow an attacker to take over control of a system or steal confidential information.