Apple, on the other hand, has no reason to want the web
to flourish. They make money by selling hardware, and
by managing a closed ecosystem of apps and services
that revolve around said hardware.
You have the key thing correct: Apple makes money on hardware.
So it doesn't follow that they would want to stamp out or ignore the web. The web is a huge part of what customers use Macs and iOS devices for, and Apple makes the same amount of money on a piece of hardware whether you use it to browse the web or use the $0.00 Facebook app.
There's no denying that Apple wants you to buy into their ecosystem of apps: it helps bind you to their devices. But there's no incentive for them to extinguish the web.
At least in the days of IE6, Microsoft didn't really care about
the web.
No. The web was directly opposite to Microsoft's goals. Microsoft made money on operating systems and applications. If the web "won" then you wouldn't need a Microsoft OS any more, and Microsoft would "lose."
So it doesn't follow that they would want to stamp out or ignore the web. The web is a huge part of what customers use Macs and iOS devices for, and Apple makes the same amount of money on a piece of hardware whether you use it to browse the web or use the $0.00 Facebook app.
There's no denying that Apple wants you to buy into their ecosystem of apps: it helps bind you to their devices. But there's no incentive for them to extinguish the web.
No. The web was directly opposite to Microsoft's goals. Microsoft made money on operating systems and applications. If the web "won" then you wouldn't need a Microsoft OS any more, and Microsoft would "lose."