Opera Software will be unveiling Opera Mini for iPhone next week at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, the company announced in a press release this morning.
They haven’t submitted it to Apple yet and we have no information about whether they ever will. The PR stunt is most likely aimed at driving some attention to their line of browser which will be launched on many other devices as well.
Anyway, the browser itself doesn’t seem to be putting anything new on the table, and no, it doesn’t have flash.
Opera Mini is renowned for its compression technology, which results in significantly faster Web-page loading and reduces data surcharges. With favorite desktop features in its arsenal, such as tabs, Speed Dial and the password manager, Opera Mini is designed with usability in mind.
Even if submitted, Apple will most likely never approve it. And even if they do, the usage will be strongly limited by the fact that whenever you click a link, the default browser will stay mobile safari.
[Opera]
No Flash?! LAME! Talk about a missed opportunity. Way to be a “game changer” Opera ;^(…
Flash isn’t open source, exactly what is Opera supposed to do to port it over. This is going to be rejected anyway for having app duplicity or whatever Apple calls it. Then wait for Opera to try to challenge Apple legally like they did with Microsoft. Should be interesting.
you wrote:
“usage will be strongly limited by the fact that whenever you click a link, the default browser will stay mobile safari.”
while i agree this browser’s unlikely to be approved by apple, the fact that mobile safari’s the default browser is not, in itself, an issue. there are many iphone apps — news readers, web-search apps, etc. — that display web pages, and by tapping links on those pages, subsequent pages are still displayed *within* those apps. typically, there’s an “open in safari” button, somewhere, to give users that option.