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As noted yesterday, Register writer Andrew Orlowski suspects that Apple is going to adopt Chimera (Gecko-based OSX-native browser) as the engine for some forthcoming “iBrowser” to replace MacIE as the default browser for OSX.

More than one Mozilla developer has called horsefeathers on this. Mozillian Dave Hyatt refers to the Register piece as a conspiracy theory. Mozilla interface designer Matthew Thomas states that any new browser being developed is most likely based on “Apple’s own HTML rendering engine, the same one as powers the help viewer in OS X.” Even Orlowski himself, at the tail end of his piece, doubts the viability of such a plan: “It’s a long-term commitment that only the brave would make. A temporary insurgency can turn into a full-scale Vietnam, if you’re not careful.”

It’s too early to tell, and in fact this “iBrowser” may turn out to be mere speculation. But it’s not impossible that a new OSX-native browser might become available. Witness the success of OSX, Apple’s continued emphasis on ease of use, and the rising visibility of [Ti|i]Books as the portable of choice. If Apple is indeed at work on a stealth browser for OSX, it’s my hope that it’s at least as good as Mozilla in terms of standards-compliance. We don’t need another Netscape 4.

What is “Apple’s own HTML rendering engine?” How standards-compliant is it? What will it support? DOCTYPEs? CSS? XML? Will it support DOM? JavaScript? How’s that box model looking?

And it’s unlikely that Apple will set the story straight until good and ready. As an anonymous insider recently told me, “they wouldn’t know. Apple is good at secrets.”