Since the App Store opened nearly two years ago, people and companies have been submitting apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. A lot of these apps have been very useful. Others are a waste of time. These apps that get submitted go through an approval process that can take some time. Some have complained that Apple’s approval process is too long, while other’s haven’t said much about it. In this approval process Apple has been known to reject apps for an icon not looking the right way; all the way up to apps that duplicate core apps of the iPhone. Google knows this all to well when their Google Voice app got rejected. Apple’s current stance on this issue is that they are still testing it to see how it works with the iPhone. Why am I bringing all this up, you might ask? Well, Opera has submitted their mini browser to Apple for Approval.
Slash Lane of AppleInsider is reporting that on Tuesday March 23rd, Opera had submitted their Opera mini browser to Apple. Apple’s current browser, Safari for the iPhone is based on Webkit, as where Opera’s browser is not. According to the article, Opera believes that Apple won’t reject the app because it is not based on Webkit. This is yet to be seen though. I think it would be great to see another browser on the iPhone; however, personally I can’t really see myself using it. I have my iPhone tied in with MobileMe, which means I have all of my bookmarks synced with MobileMe to Safari to my iPhone.
One of the benefits that Opera is touting is that their browser can load pages quicker. AppleInsider explains how this is achieved:
“Opera’s iPhone browser reportedly achieves speeds up to six times faster than Apple’s Safari when running over 3G. The alleged superior speeds are achieved through compression technology used by the company that allows less data transfer by using the company’s servers.”
This is a great feature for loading pages quicker, however, AppleInsider does point out a negative to Opera’s mini browser:
“…Opera Mobile also lacks one defining feature of the iPhone: pinch-to-zoom capabilities. The feature could reportedly be added in a future release of the software — if Apple allows.”
Opera is missing pinch-to-zoom, but it uses tap zoom. You simply tap on an image or article and it zooms in. I have added a demo video at the end of my article, which shows this, and the speed difference between Opera and Safari.
It seems that Opera has a lot to offer for the iPhone. As I stated before, personally it’s going to be a hard sell for me. Now if Opera was free, I would try it, but we won’t find that out till, or if Apple approves it. And that folks, is the five million dollar question. Will Apple approve the Opera mini browser? And, if Apple does, would you be interested in using it? Let me know your thoughts on this, by leaving a comment in the comments section below.
Photo Credit: Opera Browser
Article Via AppleInsider
