Why would Safari get displaced on iOS, though? Apple users tend to stick to first-party software even when options are available, unless third-party stuff has a significant feature gap (and keep in mind that we're talking about UX here, not how many APIs the browser supports etc). Did Chrome overtake Safari on macOS?
Google can prompt you to download Chrome in every service and every app of theirs you use, and every so often "innocently" break some aspect of their services if it's being touched by another browser.
I remember back when their enthusiasts here, on HN, urged Firefox users to keep an open mind that Google products breaking on Gecko regularly was just because they were so busy making the web awesome! It was strange back then, but also the product of another era of the Orange Site, you saw more of that tendency to identify with businesses such as Google than with other individual people.
And how well do you think something like that would go with the iOS target demographic?
Safari is different from Firefox for one simple reason: it's bundled to Apple products, which, regardless of their actual quality, are perceived as "luxury software" socially, and its userbase reflects that. And it's large enough that, for most companies actually trying to sell something, it makes sense to cater to.
Is the user, just some ordinary joe who isnt especially technical, going to switch banks to continue using FF or is he going to switch to Chrome and carry on his day? When google search, youtube, maps, and a bunch of third party sites all start recommending Chrome as well, what happens then?
Most websites have financial incentives to only support one browser, if they can get rid of WebKit they will, standards be damned.
Firefox is off the beaten path. iOS Safari isn’t. Someone has to be ballsy enough to do make that first call. These kids calling it “the new IE” are being dramatic. iOS Safari as it is right now is nowhere near what IE was. Any meaningful organisation that makes the first call on not supporting iOS Safari is…to put it one way…not somewhere that I want to work. Because it sounds like the prioritises are being set by a nerd with a chip on his (yes, his) shoulder instead of what’s best for the user or for the business.
Google will pay handsomely to a good bunch of "nerds" to gain dominance on iOS with Chrome as it did in other platforms, and then it will make business sense for independent vendors to drop support for anything but Chrome.
