> Now, we are starting to work on Safari again but look at Chrome. They put out releases at least every month while we basically do it once a year.
Even though this was in 2013 nothing about the release cycle (still only major changes with the major OS release versions). I wonder if some of the other emails have more context on this.
There is only one reason why chrome got so much market share: because they put an ad on the Google homepage "Try a faster browser!". The marketing was bullshit (bloated websites don't load any faster in Chrome than in other browsers), but it worked.
If any other company advertised their browser so heavily, they would be the leading browser maker today. But noone else can put ads on every load of the Google homepage.
I think browsers are just so complex that most people don't understand that there's something wrong with their browser or operating system and just blames the website. Few years back it feels that everybody knew that if something is a bit off on the web they should try a different browser. Now, this idea seems to be more or less gone - most people only have 1 browser installed to begin with.
Non-APNS push notifications landed on macOS in 16.1. They get webkit features in minor releases. Mouse and keyboard support for iPad also landed in a minor release. They average about 6 releases a year.
Or they release them at a faster cadence, which was the point of the quoted portion of the emails. That doesn't mean no planning.
EDIT: Actually, I reread your comment and have no idea what you're getting at. Why do you think I'm suggesting Google has no planning?
Among my iPhone-owning friends, it is common to hear “they didn’t add X to Safari in iOS 16 but I hope they will in iOS 17” or “did you watch the iOS 16 promos? They’re adding X to Safari.” It is expected that major Safari features coincide with major iOS releases.