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App store rules prohibit Opera Mini for iPhone

updated 04:35 pm EDT, Thu October 30, 2008

No Opera Mini for iPhone

iPhone owners should not expect to see the Opera web browser on the device anytime soon, says Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, CEO of the company. Von Tetzschner notes that while engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini for iPhones, Apple is blocking release through the App Store, due its competition with the built-in Safari browser. Opera Mini is used frequently on other smartphones, and speeds up mobile browsing by delivering stripped-down versions of websites.

Apple has received sharp criticism for blocking anything from the App Store which may be perceived as threatening dominance. Earlier this year the company denied MailWrangler, an app supporting simultaneous Gmail accounts, and Podcaster, software for receiving podcasts while mobile. While iPhones were unable to run mobile podcast downloads at the time, Apple is rumored to be incorporating the technology for its v2.2 firmware update. Podcasts would be accessed through the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store option.

by MacNN Staff

(32)

TAGS :

iPhone, software, Opera, browsers, App Store

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testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

+10

10/30, 04:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
OK...

so there's no reason to have a second Mail or browser app, but having 56 different type of to-do lists and organizers is OK?

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

+3

10/30, 05:05pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Anti-Competitive

This is why I have not bought an iPhone, and from the looks of it, I may not. Apple is becoming very anti-competitive, and I think it is about time someone like Opera sued them. This is also the reason I am seriously looking at Linux as my desktop, Apple has become the Redmond of the south.

WiseWeasel
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 1999

+12

10/30, 05:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
Jailbreak

They should release on Cydia for the jailbroken iPhone market, if they already have a stable release. Don't let the app store rejection keep you down!

imactheknife
Junior Member

Joined: Jul 2003

+10

10/30, 05:12pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
monopoly?

is Apple becoming MS and not allowing other software on it's devices? come on Apple I Love your products but choice is great too..

jhawk95
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2006

-6

10/30, 05:14pm | report spam | (2 replies) close Reply |
Read The SDK

If they would have read the SDK, they would not have wasted their time with the Opera Browser.

Opera can make their own phone to put it on if that is what they want. Not all iPhone users want their $hit browser on our iPhones. h***, we don't use that piece of $hit browser on our desktops either.

Sue, sue, sue... you can't force a company to put something on their product they don't want.

What's next, sueing McDonald's for not allowing Burger King to sell their Whoppers at all McDonald's world-wide?

bobolicious
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2002

+6

10/30, 05:41pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Safari compatibility...

...is so rough with so many sites this is a mixed blessing - I wish one didn't need 5 browsers however it seems the way of the web... If Apple can offer a more compatible browser (java, flash, file uploads) then I wouldn't care so much, although I understand some of the issues may be Microsoft driven proprietary standards or security limitations... Welcome to the wild west web...

frijole
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2007

+7

10/30, 06:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
not so fast

neither mailwrangler or podcaster were rejected "due to [their] competition with the built-in [apps]". It was pretty clear, in fact, that they were rejected for if you read the whole letter.

Here's the complete text another developer posted on his blog:

Hi [Geopher Developer],

Your application, Geopher Lite, cannot be posted to the App Store because it violates section 3.3.5 of the iPhone SDK Agreement; �Applications must comply with the Human Interface Guidelines and other Documentation provided by Apple.�

Geopher Lite duplicates the functionality of the built-in iPhone application Safari without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion. The app should launch Safari when the �Go!� and �Log� buttons are selected, instead of navigating within the app.

As we can clearly see, the problem is not in duplicating functionality, it is doing so "without providing sufficient differentiation or added functionality, which will lead to user confusion" that is the problem.

Comment buried. Show

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

-30

10/30, 06:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
F**K APPLE

They are fascist pieces os $hit. I will bury those cocaroaches....

ricardogf
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2003

+8

10/30, 06:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
Stupid reporters

It's nothing to do with competition, it's about UI!!! Wake up, MacNN!

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

+7

10/30, 06:43pm | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
the SDK also says

the SDK also won't allow any app to execute other code. This is what web browsers do all day. They execute other code like HTML, XML, JAVA and so on. So we'll never see another browser on the iPhone.

I consider this more of a security problem then anything else unless you can prove Apple just doesn't want competition?

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

-7

10/30, 09:23pm | report spam | close Reply |
imactheknife

Last I looked I was allowed to install Opera browser on my HTC smartphone and didn't need MS to dictate what software I can or can't install. So 'no' Apple is not becoming MS. Apple is much worse, that it won't allow you choice.

Eldernorm
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2007

-1

10/30, 10:19pm | report spam | close Reply |
en

I see the MS trolls are out in force tonight. LOL :-)
Its pretty easy to see them too. "I bought a new FORD and I am pissed that I cannot use Toyota parts on this thing. I will never buy a (what ever) again. LOL :-)

The article said it all. Opera works faster cause it runs on stripped down speciality web sites that the other cheap du du phones run. If a sight does not have a stripped down site (read special set up so the cheap phone can read it) then you get NOTHING.

So, before complaining or taking MS troll money, try reading the article.

Just a thought.
en

macmedia1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2005

-3

10/30, 11:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
Go after Apple

I think there are some antitrust implications in this... Although Apple can control what can go or cannot go onto the App store, if they are preventing applications from running on there there can be some recourse.

Microsoft had this problem before....

I hope someone will be brave enough to go after Apple and who has enough funds to fight off their lawyers.

I love their stuff but Apple needs to be taught a lesson like how MS was dealt with.

ZinkDifferent
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

+1

10/31, 12:48am | report spam | close Reply |
The usual...

...complement of wankers claiming conspiracies and how they will not buy any Apple products.

Why are you here, then?

Apple has a very good reason for their exclusions - there are no needs for another browser on the iPhone, especially Opera and all its problems.

aristotles
Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Jul 2004

0

10/31, 01:48am | report spam | close Reply |
Opera is c*** nonstandard

Show me a platform where Opera integrates with the look and feel of the native UI. I tried using it on windows and OS X but if felt cheap and offered nothing for me to keep it installed. I also seem to recall that it was adware supported back them. Cheap c***.

bhuot
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2003

+3

10/31, 06:47am | report spam | close Reply |
very limited

I am a web designer and from that perspective, Opera Mini is even more limited than Internet Explorer. I would be very constricted and have to re-design and give up most of what I have done with stylesheets in order to get it to work in Opera Mini. What they should do is either support all of stylesheets or turn them off completely. That would work much better on my site and many others as well.

martinX
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2008

+2

10/31, 06:59am | report spam | close Reply |
Hakon Lie eats babies

Love it or hate it, I just hope no-one is surprised...

Guest: Java isn't on the iPhone (good thing too...). HTML and XML are markup, not executable code. Javascript kinda is though.

Jhawk95: Opera is a good browser. I used to run it on a PC and it was better than FF (and obviously better than IE). Safari on the Mac is better IMO, but each to their own.

iMactheknife and Guest: Apple makes the iPhone so they can do what they like. MS doesn't make x86 computers and had a monopoly in the x86 OS market and they tried to force PC makers to shut out competition - that is illegally anti-competitive and that's why they got into trouble.

Testudo: each of those 56 to-do list apps is special in its own unique way. Hakon Lie is just trying to leech on the iPhone's success - ahh, who am I trying to kid. Apple doesn't want another browser. They want people to go 'hey that Safari/Mail on the iPhone is pretty good (99% of what people do is web and mail) - I might as well buy a Mac.' But wouldn't that make the world a better place?

martinX
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2008

+3

10/31, 07:16am | report spam | close Reply |
Opera and stylesheets

Bhuot: if you mean Opera Mini doesn't support handheld stylesheets, then you're right. Neither does Safari on the iPhone. Given that Hakon Lie was one of the creators of stylesheets, I would be surprised if his browser didn't support them to the hilt. Sometimes, though, the modern browser can leave yesterday's designer behind. It's a game you can play but never win.

DeezNutts
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2008

+1

10/31, 12:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Read The SDK

"Opera can make their own phone to put it on if that is what they want. Not all iPhone users want their $hit browser on our iPhones. "

Ah so that is reason enough to support apple banning it? Because you don't want it?

"Sue, sue, sue... you can't force a company to put something on their product they don't want."

It has nothing to do with apple putting it on the iPhone, its about what a customer may want on a device they purchased. Two totally different things. No one is advocating that Apple be forced to ship other companies' software WITH the iPhone.

I have to laugh when I see the old 1984 commercial these days, apple has become the exact thing they have long claimed to be against.

chadpengar
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

+3

10/31, 01:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
user experience

It's about controlling the user experience. Apps that aren't
"iPhone like" can break that experience. That is what Apple is worried about.

Constable Odo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2007

+2

10/31, 03:08pm | report spam | close Reply |
Give Apple time...

I think most of this application exclusivity will go away after awhile. I'm certain Apple is still trying to build Mobile OSX and they want to keep working on the core applications for stability.

Do most of you iPhone users really need another browser or is it you just feel cheated that the other OSs are allowed to run anything they want. Mobile OSX seems to be missing a lot of pieces, so consider it an unfinished work in progress. Although many of you agree the iPhone OS is well ahead of other OSs, you still complain if Apple doesn't allow a few apps. Maybe they're doing it for your benefit, too.

UnCal
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2007

-2

11/01, 09:46am | report spam | (1 reply) close Reply |
Hrmmmm.

Says it all that I was kicked back to the springboard while trying to comment on this.
If dominance really is the issue, I don't see why having bought into their mobile platform isn't enough - apart from shifting that WWDC browser usage pie chart

UnCal
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2007

-2

11/01, 09:49am | report spam | close Reply |
Trying this again.

Says it all that I was kicked back to the springboard while trying to comment on this.
If dominance really is the issue, I don't see why having bought into their mobile platform isn't enough - apart from shifting that WWDC browser usage pie chart

akulavolk
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2007

+3

11/01, 09:42pm | report spam | close Reply |
Misleading

"...the company denied MailWrangler, an app supporting simultaneous Gmail accounts..."

That quote seems to imply that this feature is unusual or, specifically, that the iPhone mail app doesn't support multiple Gmail accounts. I have my iPhone set up to pull from two different gmail accounts, plus my .me/.mac e-mail.

So, it could be listed as "just another e-mail program"

DarkVader
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2001

-2

11/02, 09:06pm | report spam | close Reply |
Who cares?

Opera has always been the worst browser on any platform. I wouldn't at all mind FireFox on my iPhone, and I won't complain at all if it's only done for jailbroken phones. Mine was jailbroken within half an hour of purchasing it, and I wouldn't dream of running it any other way.

But I don't care AT ALL if opera never shows up. I won't run that piece of garbage.

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App store rules prohibit Opera Mini for iPhone

updated 04:35 pm EDT, Thu October 30, 2008

No Opera Mini for iPhone

OK...

Anti-Competitive

Jailbreak

monopoly?

Read The SDK

Safari compatibility...

not so fast

F**K APPLE

Stupid reporters

the SDK also says

imactheknife

en

Go after Apple

The usual...

Opera is c*** nonstandard

very limited

Hakon Lie eats babies

Opera and stylesheets

Re: Read The SDK

user experience

Give Apple time...

Hrmmmm.

Trying this again.

Misleading

Who cares?

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App store rules prohibit Opera Mini for iPhone

updated 04:35 pm EDT, Thu October 30, 2008

No Opera Mini for iPhone

Related Articles

Recent Articles

OK...

Anti-Competitive

Jailbreak

monopoly?

Read The SDK

Safari compatibility...

not so fast

F**K APPLE

Stupid reporters

the SDK also says

imactheknife

en

Go after Apple

The usual...

Opera is c*** nonstandard

very limited

Hakon Lie eats babies

Opera and stylesheets

Re: Read The SDK

user experience

Give Apple time...

Hrmmmm.

Trying this again.

Misleading

Who cares?

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

Connect tools:

Subscribe

to our RSS

Follow us

on Twitter

10 Most Read

10 Most Discussed

MacNN Marketplace