Apple is a member of the W3C, so talking about Apple retarding the W3C process is not really in opposition to the idea that the W3C is responsible.
I do think it is fair to say that Apple is a key player in the W3C's issues, along with Microsoft.
It's a situation very much like the UN, where people opposed to the idea of cooperation use their lack of cooperation as proof of the idea that collaborative action is infeasible. Apple really wants people to use their walled garden as much as possible, so they are definitely among the parties intentionally sabotaging the W3C process.
I'm actually talking about iOS, especially the Apple App Store. Apple is threating to assert touch patents to prevent other vendors from implementing rich touch interfaces in the browser.
Eight years ago one might have called Java one of the most successful open source projects ever. Webkit could easily end up in a similar position. Given Apple's heavy litigation of their opponents, it seems almost inevitable.
So, the game has barely even begun yet. I suggest we revisit in 10 years and see how successful Webkit has been, for Apple, and our broader software community. (Because simply saying it is a success definitely suggests different things to different groups.)
No. Apple maintains a fork of Webkit, which is the version present on all their devices. The browser in their walled garden is the non open-source browser they force you to use on their devices.
I do think it is fair to say that Apple is a key player in the W3C's issues, along with Microsoft.
It's a situation very much like the UN, where people opposed to the idea of cooperation use their lack of cooperation as proof of the idea that collaborative action is infeasible. Apple really wants people to use their walled garden as much as possible, so they are definitely among the parties intentionally sabotaging the W3C process.