Is The iPhone Ready For A Night At The Opera?
On the surface, it doesn't seem like a big deal: developers and software makers submit applications with relative frequency.
But Opera's move to get its browser added to the iPhone's roster is a power play in that, if approved, it would break Apple's historical rejection of applications that replicate or duplicate apps and behaviors native to the iPhone. In this case, that native app is Apple's Safari browser, which comes already baked into the iPhone.
Oslo-based Opera said it officially submitted Opera Mini for the iPhone to Apple iPhone App Store on Tuesday. Early iterations of the browser were previewed to a select few earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Opera is confident that it will earn itself a seat at the coveted iPhone App Store table, based mostly on its browser's speed over rival Safari.
"Early reviews of Opera Mini for iPhone praised the sheer browsing speed, powering through Web pages up to six times faster than Safari," Opera said in a statement. "Due to server-side rendering, Opera Mini compresses data by up to 90 percent before sending it to the phone, resulting in rapid page loading and more Web per MB for the end user. Those familiar with iPhone roaming charges will relish Opera Mini's ability to deliver more for less, giving users the Web they want quickly, without the high costs."
The Opera Mini Web browser is currently used on a host of mobile devices and platforms including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Google Android. Opera claims to be the browser of choice on more than 50 million mobile phones globally. Adding the iPhone to the mix as a Safari alternative aligns with Opera's overall mission of delivering the Web on all mobile devices.
"The Opera Mini for iPhone sneak peek during MWC told us that we have something special," said Jon von Tetzchner, co-founder of Opera Software, in the statement. "Opera has put every effort into creating a customized, stylized, feature-rich and highly responsive browser that masterfully combines iPhone capabilities with Opera's renowned Web experience, and the result is a high performing browser for the iPhone."