Apple was in critically bad place when windows dominated with Internet Explorer, and Adobe with its apps. These two companies dictated where the users would be,

Apple was in critically bad place when windows dominated with Internet Explorer, and Adobe with its apps. These two companies dictated where the users would be, and Apple had to beg them to play nice. The iPhone was a whole new platform where Apple had 100% power on where it could go; opening the door to third party browsers to bring their domination to the platform from the start must have been seen as suicidal.