Internet giant Mozilla has accused Apple of undermining the trust relationship it and other computing firms have with their customers.

The claims were made this week by the chief executive of Mozilla, John Lilly, after Apple included its Safari browser as a default add-on installation in the latest iTunes update.

Mr Lilly wrote in a recent blog post: "Apple has made it incredibly easy …for users to install ride-along software that they didn't ask for and maybe didn't want."

He called this practice wrong, asserting that it "borders on malware distribution practices".

"It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that's bad not just for Apple but for the security of the whole," added Mr Lilly.

According to the Washington Post, around 33 per cent of internet surfers use Mozilla's Firefox browser, while Apple's Safari browser currently accounts for just five per cent less of the market share.

Those downloading either iTunes or Quicktime are now being offered the chance to download Safari automatically.

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