The rise of Webkit

Webkit, the browser engine for Apple's browser Safari, has had an incredible six months.

• First, the iPhone - the first mobile device with proper internet access that people like to use, based on Webkit
• Safari was released for Windows, and bundled with iTunes, ensuring a huge distribution
• Webkit is the foundation for Google's new mobile platform, Android, which will surely be massive next year
• Nokia uses Webkit for its Series 60 browser in its flagship smartphones
• The KHTML open source Linux developers announced they are merging back in to Webkit

From a standing start of 3% of browser market share at the start of the year, Safari is already up to more than 5%. I wouldn't be surprised if it reached 15% by the end of 2008, if its momentum (and Apple's) continues.

This is great for the internet. A popular open source project, a keen proponent of existing and forthcoming standards such as HTML5 and CSS3, the ability to innovate rapidly (including recently CSS animations and transformations!)

Good luck to Webkit for next year.