Apple says Safari 1.0 coming soon

Apple Computer said Tuesday that a final 1.0 version of its Safari Web browser is coming soon. The statement comes in the wake of an announcement from Microsoft that it has of Internet Explorer for the Mac. Apple would not say exactly when the software would be released or if the Mac maker plans to charge for the browser, which has been available in beta form as a free download.

"Safari is the fastest browser on the Mac, and has become the browser of choice for millions of Mac users," the company said in a statement. "The Safari beta program has been an incredible success, and we will be releasing Safari 1.0 soon." Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit felt that it should reassign its IE resources to revenue-producing Mac products, the statement added, "such as the next versions of Office, Entourage (including an Exchange client) and Virtual PC."