Apple's Press Release states the following:
"Safari is the fastest browser running on Windows, based on the industry standard iBench tests, rendering web pages up to twice as fast as IE 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Firefox 2. Safari joins iTunes® in delivering Apple’s legendary user experience to both Windows and Mac® users as well as full support of open Internet standards. Safari 3 features easy-to-manage bookmarks, effortless browsing with easy-to-organize tabs and a built-in RSS reader to quickly scan the latest news and information."

Apple CEO Steve Jobs made the following statements about Safari on Windows:
“We think Windows users are going to be really impressed when they see how fast and intuitive web browsing can be with Safari,”
“Hundreds of millions of Windows users already use iTunes, and we look forward to turning them on to Safari’s superior browsing experience too.”

Fastest on Mac and Windows
The Press Release goes on to describe Safari performance relative to Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2:
"Safari has always been the fastest browser on the Mac and now it’s the fastest browser on Windows, loading and drawing web pages up to twice as fast as Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and up to 1.6 times faster than Mozilla Firefox 2.  The speed of Safari combined with its intuitive user interface lets users spend more time surfing the web and less time waiting for pages to load. Other Safari features now available to Windows users include SnapBack™, one-click access to an initial search query; resizable text fields; and private browsing to ensure that information about an individual’s browsing history isn’t stored."

Safari 3 - Industry Standard Support
"Safari 3 supports all modern Internet standards so users can view websites as they were meant to be seen, including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SVG and Java. Safari software updates are delivered seamlessly through Apple’s Software Update application, which automatically checks for updates."

Mac requirements:

• Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.9 or later
• minimum of 256MB of memory
• Intel-based Mac or a Mac with a PowerPC G5, G4 or G3 processor

Windows requirements

• Windows XP or Windows Vista
• minimum of 256 MB of memory
• at least a 500 MHz Intel Pentium processor

Switch To A Mac Commentary - Impact
In our view, Safari running on Windows will serve as an additional bridge to the Mac.  It's a well known fact that many Windows users have switched to a Mac as a result of using an iPod and iTunes on their PCs.  The Internet is a vital component of our digital lives.  Safari 3 will give many Windows users another way to experience the Mac.  Windows users will begin to enjoy Safari's superior user interface, features, performance, and support for industry standards.  As a result, Safari market share will increase, more sites will publish Safari compliant pages, and the end result will lead to a larger Mac footprint.

Safari 3 public beta can be downloaded for free from Apple at http://www.apple.com/safari/