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Apple approves Opera Mini browser for iPhone
After a week of being bashed for anti-competitive behavior, Apple pulled a surprise move and approved Opera Mini for iPhone on Monday night. The Opera browser competes directly with Apple's own default Safari browser, and there was plenty of speculation that Apple would play the old "duplicates existing functionality" card. Instead, Steve Jobs and Co. went for the brownie points. Opera Mini may have snuck around the restriction on JavaScript engines other than Apple's standard-issue version of WebKit by rendering pages on Opera's servers, rather than on the phone itself. What Opera ends up rendering is its own compressed OBML, not JavaScript, which is where it gets its famous server-side acceleration.
Is Opera fast and stable enough to grab a little chunk of Safari's (currently 100%, I suppose) iPhone browser market share? I like Safari, but I can't wait to download Opera Mini and find out.
Update: Opera Mini hasn't hit the iTunes store yet, and even our sources at Opera are having trouble getting an ad-hoc copy. They did confirm it will be in the App Store soon, though, and they'll download it then.
Update 2: A source at Opera gave us the following comment on what Opera planned to do if the app had been rejected: "We believed wholeheartedly that Apple would approve Opera Mini. As far as I know, there was no Plan B."
[via PCMag]
Comments
24
Subscribe to commentspat_boy2008Apr 12th 2010 10:17PM
Wow, I'm surprised Apple approved this. I'm not another dimension am I?
lasApr 13th 2010 3:38PM
opera didn't really give a choice to apple, by demoing that it works, is useful and then being very public about having submitted it. well played.
master811Apr 13th 2010 12:51PM
You know there is a possible reason why Apple have allowed Opera as all the pages you view go through their servers first to be compressed, so means less pressure on the mobile networks which the iPhone hasn't been exactly kind too since it was released.
kendallApr 12th 2010 11:07PM
awesome i can't wait to stop using safari!
MmmbaconApr 12th 2010 11:20PM
Got it!! Search "opera mini"
blasztaApr 13th 2010 12:07AM
Been using it for half an hour..
Awesome! Faster than Safari in most of the website I visited, and much more feature (find, history, no reload when click back, etc.)
AemonyApr 13th 2010 12:14AM
It's really good and much better then Safari. However I find the "one click zoom" annoying as it doesn't allow me to manually set the prefered zoom level on websites.
And what is the "mobile view" supposed to do? Currently I have it off but Facebook still gives me the mobile website when logging in.
PonTelonApr 13th 2010 12:37AM
Mobile version seems to remove images or complex frames and such. I think it's how other phones see the web(like Blackberries who don't download Opera and dumbyphones). That is what it did when I turned it on at least.
I am really like the speed! Only think really missing is a "next" button when filling out forms. Otherwise it's great!
AemonyApr 13th 2010 12:46AM
Yeah, the next and finished buttons in Safari has got to be added to Opera as well! Makes signing in less of a hassel if we doesn't have to scroll manually to the next input element.
MxxConApr 13th 2010 2:00AM
hmm, wtf? they are saying it's free to d/l for the 1st 24hours and after that they'll start charging?
SteinApr 13th 2010 2:24AM
Nonono... They write that it will be available for free within 24 hours - meaning that 24 hours after the press release it should already be in the Store, and for free.
DrekeApr 13th 2010 2:07AM
Holy crap.
Did not see that one coming.
Is Apple getting soft? :D
F-ZeroApr 13th 2010 2:56AM
Of course, it's not going to appear under the 'New and Noteworthy' list, or top free apps lists is it....
knavedpermeativeApr 13th 2010 3:19AM
this is gr8...However, I feel the Browser Plus developed by Permeative Technologies Pvt Ltd is even better.
Application Description
Browser plus help you to browse easily with its tab feature.
Features:
* 3 Search Engines support: Google,Yahoo and Bing
* 4 tabs for browsing.
* Full screen Browsing.
* Bookmarks
Make your browsing life more easier with Browser Plus
PS:It is a free application. For more information and download, please visit the links below:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/browser-plus/id359372221?mt=8
or
http://www.permeative.com/browser-plus
or
http://tinyurl.com/browserplus
phoneappsexperts@gmail.com
SharkApr 13th 2010 3:35AM
a big disappointment
fullscreen is not fullscreen :(
Huge buttons :(
scrolling is not smooth :(
address bar alway's on screen :(
landscape mode, zooming disabled :(
I'm going back to use: Mercury
Lock rotation :)
Fullscreen :)
the best app!
AemonyApr 13th 2010 5:18AM
"fullscreen is not fullscreen :("
Fullscreen is fullscreen.
"Huge buttons :("
Actually a good feature, makes the web browser better and easier to use. Not everyone has small fingers.
"scrolling is not smooth :("
Isn't it? Then I don't understand your definition of smooth.
"address bar alway's on screen :("
No, only at the top of the screen, if you have fullscreen enabled.
"landscape mode, zooming disabled :("
This is the only point of them all that are actually correct.
RMNApr 13th 2010 4:24PM
Yea wish scrolling was smoother.
mr-1213Apr 13th 2010 10:43AM
Mine just keeps loading :(
AemonyApr 13th 2010 5:12AM
Opera Mini on my school network doesn't work as good as I want it to. =( The schools WLAN are set to block all ports but some and this renders the whole web browser useless.
When set to the default (Socket) in the settings it doesn't ever move from the 1 % in the progress bar. I though switching it to HTTP would fix this problem, and it did, but sometimes it crashes in the HTTP mode.
I hate my school WLAN.
DominicApr 13th 2010 10:25AM
"Plan B" was to release .ipa to jailbreak community?