Opera Set to Preview 'Opera Mini' Browser for iPhone

[plings]

Seriously though, 25% of market share worldwide. That seems pretty significant to me.

It's pretty insignificant because most phones are not smartphones, so Apple's market share is tiny.

Why do people keep separating smartphones and feature phones? It sounds like it's because analysts love talking about numbers. But the fact is that the feature phone market is the biggest by far, and yet people keep ignoring it...

Opera knows full well Apple wont accept it.

Why? They accepted Spotify, didn't they?

 

[ARF900]

Couldnt this open the door for flash on the iphone/ipad?

This is what Ive been saying all along. That someone should develop a flash enabled iphone browser SEPERATE from safari

 

[KnightWRX]

My guess is that the other alternative browsers aren't using private APIs.

Apple will probably deny the Opera browser because of its use of private APIs (I'm guessing it does) and/or other violations of the iPhone SDK/App Store terms and conditions.

You're guessing based on what ? Hopes and dreams ? Do you even know enough about Opera Mini, what it does and the iPhone SDK to make an educated guess ?

(I'm guessing you don't).

 

[plings]

And yet still they lag and lag and lag in market share overall.

Not really. Market share is impossible to measure. The fact is that when Opera reporting having 40 million users, Google reported Chrome as having 30 million users. And yet the stats claimed that Chrome had double that of Opera's market share! Funny...

Opera still do charge for native mobile browsers - Opera Mini is free

They are not charging for Opera Mobile 10.

However, they have complained publicly about Apple, Mozilla and PC manufacturers that wouldn’t do deals with them to load their browser on default installations.

No, they have not. They have mentioned in an interview that they had an iPhone prototype, but that they weren't sure if they wanted to submit it because of Apple's rules.

They have not complained about Mozilla (how on earth would Mozilla distribute Opera?) or PC manufacturers.

Opera has complained many times about various competitors and various problems to anyone who will listen. They’re the most outspoken of the entire browser industry.

Nonsense.

Opera on Net Applications’ market share measurements:

Uh, yes, someone's personal blog points out that the numbers don't add up? What does this have to do with your claim?

Opera on Mozilla’s mobile browsing project:

Uh, yes, someone's personal blog points out that Mozilla pretends that they invented features Opera had for years already? What does this have to do with your claim?

Opera on Mozilla’s security disclosure policy:

Uh, yes, someone's personal blog again. What does this have to do with your claim?

Opera on Microsoft’s MSN Web site:

Opera was blocked, and spoke out about it. What does this have to do with your claim?

Opera on Microsoft’s decision to ship a browser-less Windows SKU:

Yes, Opera answers questions from a journalist. So what? Mozilla and Google responded and said it was a bad idea as well. What does this have to do with your claim?

Opera on Microsoft decision to allow IE removal from Windows 7:

Yes, Opera answers questions from a journalist. So what? Mozilla and Google responded and said it was a bad idea as well. What does this have to do with your claim?

Opera on Windows 7’s ballot screen:

What does this have to do with your claim?

Yeah,

Your links had nothing what so ever to do with your claim. Anyone can dig up lots of links for any company commenting on just about anything. Your claim was that "Mozilla and PC manufacturers that wouldn’t do deals with them to load their browser on default installations".

You are also saying that anyone who points out evil acts or hypocrisy are "too outspoken". That's just crazy. Or is it just when Opera says something it's bad (in which case it's hypocrisy)?

I was making the point that for a company that supposedly has superior products (in which some of those claims are absolutely true — just compare the PS3 InFront browser to the Wii’s Opera browser), they spend an awful lot of time moaning and bashing their competitors.

This is clearly nonsense. They are not bashing anyone to any greater degree than other companies.

I doubt many will see it that way. It would be interesting to learn what they do with their Opera mini data. I’m sure it would be a gold mine for advertisers.

They already have a policy on that, and Norway has some of the world's strictes privacy laws.

 

[WilliamLondon]

Opera knows full well Apple wont accept it.

Hence, the "please accept us before we apply" PR campaign. Sort of like a group of foreign refugees setting off for a foreign land sending a message to all the citizens of the destination country, "we hope your president allows us to land on your shores and doesn't send us back to our land of oppression where we're certain to be put to death."

 

[inkswamp]

Opera is still around?

They always struck me as a group that was one bad day away from mixing up a big batch of rat poison kool-aid for the office party.

Opera isn't grabbing headlines like Chrome or Firefox, but it's alive and well. Anyone who surfs the Web on a Wii or Nintendo DS is using the Opera browser (and before you scoff, remember that the combined markets for those two devices is more than 191M users worldwide.) It's far more Unix-friendly than any other browser (yes, even Firefox) and is probably the best browser for mobile devices this side of Safari.

Just because it's not being heralded as a paradigm shift every other week by tech pundits doesn't mean it isn't doing well.

 

[ppc_michael]

Man. A lot of people like Opera, but my sites, which are standards-compliant never fully render correctly. It's almost as bad as IE to me. And you used to have to pay for it.

 

[xUKHCx]

Man. A lot of people like Opera, but my sites, which are standards-compliant never fully render correctly. It's almost as bad as IE to me.

I checked your site listed on your profile and it looks totally fine

And you used to have to pay for it.

I used to be 12.

 

[a.gomez]

Great news! I'll be really mad if apple blocks this! I should be able to use whatever browser I want

 

[Stella]

Man. A lot of people like Opera, but my sites, which are standards-compliant never fully render correctly. It's almost as bad as IE to me. And you used to have to pay for it.

Opera improved significantly at version 9.x - and is excellent these days. Prior to 9.x Opera's rendering was crap, IMO.

 

[Stridder44]

Is it even relevant?

...to what? The iPhone? Safari? If you mean either of those, yes, very. Since day 1, Safari has been the only browser to use on an iPhone. And honestly, Safari needs some competition on the iPhone. I really hope Apple approves this app. I mean if Safari is so great then they should have nothing to worry about in the first place, right?

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Nexus One Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

Why the hate? Choice is a good thing!.

Think different, people!

Pretty much. Too many people on this forum only drink the Apple kool-aid. Like I said above, if Apple feels that Safari is so badass, then this shouldn't even pose a threat to them, and should be approved. I personally prefer Safari over Opera in OS X, but having options/competition is NEVER a bad thing.

 

[Cerebrus' Maw]

@plings : You are a rare source of common sense on this site.

I won't tolerate it! I'll be keeping my eye on you....

In regards to people concerns about Flash.

Opera will not have the opportunity to include Flash, simply because Flash must be installed at an OS level, not like a browers plugin. Remember how you update it? You install is like an App. Therefore, Flash inclusion on Safari/Opera or any other browser that comes to the Iphone/pod, is not up to the respective developers, but up to Apple.

Which will never happen.

Opera is a great browser. On the Desktop side, it comes with a bit torrent inbuilt directly, which is a really nice touch. As others alluded to earlier, many of the features that you take for granted on your browser comes from Opera.

Flyguy (for those of you who dont know, this guy is basically responsible for the largest botnet in the world, and I believe is on the Worlds most Wanted list) was reported to have stated that for anyone who wanted a secure web browsing, to use Opera. I think to this day, it is still the most secure browser at Hackathon fests. I'll see if I can dig up these articles.

 

[SPUY767]

Is it even relevant?

Considering that Opera basically invented tons of the features that we take for granted in web browsers today. . .

 

[iPrep]

Considering that Opera basically invented tons of the features that we take for granted in web browsers today. . .

Multiple windows inside the main window, popup blocking, the Google search field, Speed Dial/Top Sites, sessions, easily deleting personal data, full page zoom... Yeah, Opera pretty much invented or pioneered most of the things you see in modern browsers.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Opera isn't grabbing headlines like Chrome or Firefox, but it's alive and well. Anyone who surfs the Web on a Wii or Nintendo DS is using the Opera browser (and before you scoff, remember that the combined markets for those two devices is more than 191M users worldwide.) It's far more Unix-friendly than any other browser (yes, even Firefox) and is probably the best browser for mobile devices this side of Safari.

Just because it's not being heralded as a paradigm shift every other week by tech pundits doesn't mean it isn't doing well.

The sad thing is that Opera is a padagrim shifter. A lot of the features it pioneered, Like Speed Dial. Plus isnt it backed by the EU? I would use Opera but they need a lesson in GUI design.

 

[LukeHarrison]

Well, after using Opera Mini on a friends crappy LG, I have to say that I'd be very much appreciative of an iPhone port. We're both on O2, and live in a GPRS area, so no EDGE coverage, let alone 3G, and the speed difference was immense.

I'm talking almost 3G speeds, over GPRS!!!

OK, so on the iPhone images would look noticeably compressed, but for 99% of my browsing needs that would be fine.

Come on Opera, even if Apple don't allow it, get it up on Cydia for the rest of us!

 

[IBradMac]

I have a blackberry with mini opera installed. It's really not a bad browser. It's pretty fast actually, especially on my phone which was limited to EDGE service only. However, I don't see Apple approving this.

 

[iPrep]

Plus isnt it backed by the EU?

Of course not. Opera's HQ is in Norway, which is not part of the EU.

 

[aegisdesign]

Yes, I’m well aware of their market share on mobile devices (particularly Symbian phones, which last time I checked most shipped Opera as their default browser.)

Opera isn't the default browser on Symbian phones, at least not Nokia phones which ship with the Webkit based S60 browser and have done since before the iPhone even shipped. I can't think of any Symbian phone with it as the default. Even the UIQ phones used their own browser. Going forward, it'll be Webkit based too as there's a webkit component in QT.

Opera Mini is available on Symbian and so is Opera Mobile, Skyfire and probably some other minor players. And then there's the full Firefox port on Maemo which is by far the best browser on any mobile platform.

Opera Mini has it's place though, especially when you can't get 3G. It'd be good to see on the iPhone.

 

[iPrep]

Even the UIQ phones used their own browser.

No, Opera was the standard browser on UIQ. UIQ is dead by now anyway.

And then there's the full Firefox port on Maemo which is by far the best browser on any mobile platform.

Really? How can that be, when it's slower than the existing Mozilla-based Maemo browser, and doesn't support Flash as well as the existing one? And it's slower than Opera as well.

 

[Mackan]

Why would anyone install a 3rd party browser on a iPhone?, serious question.

I havent played around with an iPhone browser...but most editorial and user reviews and opinions I read and hear suggest the Safari browser is the best of the mobile browsers

I always thought the iPhone browser set the bar. Is this not true then?

The only reason I would assume an iPhone user would want to install a 3rd party browser is if it had flash capabilities, however Opera mini doesn't support it.

Judging from this, I take it that the option of having a choice is something unknown, shocking, and perhaps not even appreciated, in Apple land?

 

[captain kaos]

Well, here is the test. If Apple doesn't allow it then it proves the "walled garden" theory. Competition is a good thing, it'll make Apple keep up its development of the iphone safari brower.


As a side note, does anyone else have a whiff of conspiracy that the one brower that Apple allows on the iphone use a higher datarate than another possible browers. ATT+APPLE in bed together to boost the carriers data earning??!

 

[bobertoq]

Why would anyone install a 3rd party browser on a iPhone?, serious question.

I havent played around with an iPhone browser...but most editorial and user reviews and opinions I read and hear suggest the Safari browser is the best of the mobile browsers

I always thought the iPhone browser set the bar. Is this not true then?

The only reason I would assume an iPhone user would want to install a 3rd party browser is if it had flash capabilities, however Opera mini doesn't support it.

You think just because Safari comes with the iPhone, it is better than everything else?

Well, the Opera browser (for the iPhone) is claimed to be 600% faster than Safari (for the iPhone), and reduce data costs by 90%. That's why someone might want to download it.

 

[Zer0]

It would be unfortunate if decides to reject the opera mini. As someone using an orginal iPhone (yes we exist ) the opera mini's compression implementation would be fantastic!!
Hope they sneak it into cydia if the app is rejected from app store!

 

[MorphingDragon]

Of course not. Opera's HQ is in Norway, which is not part of the EU.

I remember reading in a Computer World article that a browser was being backed by the EU. I assumed it was Opera cuz it sure as hell not Firefox.