An Opera Mini iPhone app is to be demoed at Mobile World Congress next week, the Norwegian web browsing stalwart has revealed. Apple may not plan on letting Safari rivals onto the App Store anytime soon, but in just a few days, we’re going to find out what we’re missing out on.
When it comes to third party web browsers, the iPhone OS is a famously closed system: so much so that Mozilla’s European president even told us it had ruled out Firefox Mobile ever coming to the platform. But now rival Opera is to showcase Opera Mini for iPhone in the flesh at the world’s biggest mobile tradeshow in Barcelona next week.
Mozilla rules out Firefox Mobile for iPhone
Opera Mini is a popular browser on other mobile platforms as it compresses web pages for quicker download, and comes with features not all stock smartphone browsers offer, such as tabbed browsing (Yes, you, RIM), and a password manager, and a Opera Mini iPhone app could prove just as useful, especially for those living in areas of poor signal.
Opera’s co founder Jon von Tetzchner has hinted that Opera Mini for iPhone could happen before, but the above render is the first glimpse of what it will look like. We’ve seen no sign that there’s been a change in Apple’s App Store policy, but we’ll be going hands-on with it at Opera’s MWC booth to bring you a full preview.
Out TBC | £TBC | Opera
