Apple hasn’t exactly welcomed third party web browsers on the iPhone, despite the likes of Opera and Firefox eyeing it up, but now it seems Jobs and Co are warming to the idea, finally allowing a select few onto the handset.
Cupertino’s approval crew has quietly allowed several browsing apps onto the iTunes App Store, with the likes of Edge Browser and anonymous web-viewer Incognito now available.
In previous months, Apple has rejected apps that replicate existing iPhone functions, but it seems to have backed down. However, we’re still waiting to see the big boys, Opera and Firefox on board.
Of course, the apps currently available aren’t browsers in the truest sense, since their rendering is handled by a re-skinned Safari window, so maybe that’s why Apple has allowed them to launch.
Regardless, they undermine Apple’s excuse that apps replicating functions already available on the handset aren’t allowed, so it’s only a matter of time before our favourite browsers barge their way to the iPhone.
Last we heard, an Opera Mini version was ready for Apple’s handset, but they have yet to be made public. We’re still waiting for confirmation of Firefox’s mobile version, Fennec, on the Apple phone. Stay tuned, and we’ll let you know when that changes. The way things are going, it could be soon.
Out now | £varies | Apple
