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Opera confident on Apple approval of Opera Mini

updated 10:15 am EST, Thu February 11, 2010

Company dismisses rules concerns


Opera Mini 5 will make it through the App Store, says Opera's chief development officer. "Opera Mini is compatible with every requirement for the App Store," claims Christen Krogh. "We don't think it falls under any of the excluded technologies." The browser attempts to improve on various aspects of iPhone web surfing, for instance making it simpler to visit commonly visited sites.

The difficulty is that Mini could be said to duplicate existing functionality, represented by Apple's Safari. A number of apps have been rejected from the App Store for that reason, including even Google Voice, which ultimately transformed into a modified web app to bypass restrictions. Krogh insists that Mini does not violate any rules, as it is a "different kind of browser." There are currently no plans to take action should Apple issue a rejection.

Opera could luck out if Apple has become more cautious about FCC scrutiny. Because of the Google Voice debacle the FCC began investigating the App Store approval process, which is likely to have led to both Apple and AT&T agreeing to accept VoIP apps on the iPhone. Blocking browsers like Mini could be seen as an anti-competitive gesture.


by MacNN Staff

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iPod, iPhone, iPhone apps, Opera, App Store

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Comments

  1. tonton

    Senior User

    Joined: Mar 2001

    +6
    02/11, 10:29am | report spam | Reply |

    I don't get it.

    What's the difference between Microsoft locking you into Internet Explorer for Windows PCs, for which it was globally condemned for unfair business practices, and Apple locking you into Safari for iPhone OS devices? What if I prefer another browser, even if basic functions of the iPhone do happen to be duplicated within that browser?

  1. nat

    Junior Member

    Joined: Mar 2002

    +2
    02/11, 11:05am | report spam | Reply |

    there are many browsers

    available for the iphone, i would say a good 10 or 12. i'm uncertain as to what the issues are since they duplicate functionality as well. the only criteria i'm aware of is that they must be based on webkit.

  1. ebeyer

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jun 2004

    0
    02/11, 11:07am | report spam | Reply |

    Past is prologue

    If past is prologue, I expect the app store to reject the opera browser for
    "altering the user experience". This is a pity because the opera browser
    actually is really nice and I've used it as my primary browser on the
    desktop for months.

    We'll see.

  1. Henriok

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Dec 1999

    +5
    02/11, 12:00pm | report spam | Reply |

    Monopoly and different browsers

    Tonton: The difference is that Microsoft have had in excess of 95% of _all_ desktop computers. Apple has around 25% of smartphones, and that's probably about 2% of all phones. So, while there is a huge variety of phones and smartphones to chose from from a myriad of vendors, there was in reality only one vendor for desktop operating systems _in_the_world_.

    In the phone business, there is competition and companies must make smart decisions to keep customers and to lure new customers to their products. Decisions that benefit the customers as well as the companies. That's the benefit of competition in a market economy, everyone benefits. Microsoft on the other hand was in a position of monopoly where they could do what was best for them, and them alone. And that was to stifle development, innovation, put any price they want, kill off any and all competition and just s**** anyone over. They were essentially a dictator enslaving their customers, and the world was their customer.

    Ebeyer: Opera mini is a completely different browser than the Opera desktop browser. Opera mini uses Opera's proxy servers that retrieves the page, and they renders it essentially like a picture and sends it to the cellphone. In this way they can achieve great speed and compatibility over a crappy connection and on a weak device. The phone won't have to do much at all. It's really a pretty smart approach actually and works very well.

    Since this is a radically different kind of web browser I actually believe that Opera will get away with it. Please note that Opera could've ported their regular web browser, but that would have violated AppStore policies and that would require that arbitrary code (Javascript) will be interpreted and executed on the device, and that's prohibited.

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