If Steve Jobs had his way, your Apple iPhone would have the "Freedom" browser

Using Safari on the original Apple iPhone; check out the carrier's name!

Don Melton was one of the original programmers who worked on Apple's browsing software, and as such, he has a number of memories that one could call "historical". One involves the naming of the browser that we all know as"Safari". According to Melton, during the course of developing the software, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was trying to come up with a name for the browser and liked "Freedom". As Melton writes in his blog, "He may have liked it because it invoked positive imagery of people being set free. And, just as possible and positive, it spoke to our own freedom from Microsoft and Internet Explorer, the company and browser we depended on at the time."

The problem with using "Freedom" is that it is also the name of a feminine product. Whether or not Jobs realized that, some of the programmers did and were hoping that the browser would get a better name. There was a placeholder name already in use, "Alexander" that was all over the code and the team was anxious to replace the placeholder with the final name. One suggestion was iBrowse.

One day, Melton ran into Kurt Knight, the Marketing product manager, who was full of excitement. "They've picked a name," he said and revealed it to be "Safari". At first, Melton was underwhelmed. "It doesn’t suck," he said. But by the time he was back in his office, the programmer liked the moniker. And this is how the browser on Apple devices, like the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad, became known as "Safari", which seems to be a pretty good name for a browser that can take you anywhere.