Apple Blocking Opera Mini for iPhone

Opera Software has created a version of Opera mini for the iPhone, but Apple is preventing the release of this browser.

Opera Mini runs web pages through a proxy server to speed up their download and display, and would compete with the version of Safari that comes bundled with the iPhone. That, according to Opera's CEO, Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, is the reason why Apple won't allow it to appear on the iPhone App Store.

The App Store is the only officially sanctioned way way iPhone and iPod touch users can get software, so if Opera Mini is blocked from appearing there, it's essentially dead in the water.

Other Banned Apps

When Apple created the App Store, it said it wouldn't allow software in categories it doesn't approve of: porn, privacy violations, bandwidth hogs, illegal, malicious, and 'unforeseen.'

In the months since the introduction, Apple has also shown itself willing to block apps that would compete with its own software.

Apple apparently classifies tethering applications under "bandwidth hogs", which is why it's not possible to use an iPhone as a modem for another computer, like a laptop.

And Apple also won't allow application environments that let users run other software on its smartphone and handheld. That's why Java isn't available on this platform, nor is the Palm OS emulator that StyleTap would like to release.

Related Articles:

• Apple Continues Blocking StyleTap Palm OS Emulator for iPhone

Via NYTimes.com