The web browser saved Apple, but Apple is over the web browser

[Commentary] When the original iPhone shipped in 2007, there was no app store, and you couldn't install any third-party apps on the phone. But it didn't matter, because the phone shipped with a stock app that was really the only app that mattered -- the Safari web browser. It's easy to forget these days what a miracle mobile Safari was.

But while the iPhone was neither the first nor the fastest smartphone available at the time, it certainly was the first smartphone to give you a high-quality web browsing experience. And that was crucial, because in the mid-aughts the web was the great equalizer. By having a fully featured web browser, the iPhone transcended the concept of phones and became a true pocket computer -- a juggernaut. On September 9, Apple announced a new, massively upgraded Apple TV and the next iteration of its Watch OS. Neither includes a web browser.