| three weeks of waiting to see if Apple would approve | | | | those paying roaming internet charges. |
| the application, the Opera Mini app has finally been | | | | Opera submitted the app for approval to Apple in mid |
| released and promptly sailed to the top of iPhone app | | | | march and it took three weeks for it to be approved. |
| download chart, topping a million downloads with hours | | | | In the interim there was much debate throughout the |
| of its release. Due to its strict guidelines on application | | | | blogging network and media about whether the |
| approval and Apples interests in the usage of its own | | | | appwould be approved in light of its threat to Safari's |
| embedded browser, Mobile Safari, many questioned | | | | monopoly in the iPhone browser market. In the past |
| whether Opera Mini would become available at all. | | | | Apple has used a clause in its terms and conditions |
| After a lengthy approval process it finally has been | | | | prohibiting apps which "duplicate existing functionality" |
| approved, so now for the first time Apple faces | | | | as a basis for rejecting apps and many believed |
| browser competition on the iPhone. | | | | Opera Mini would not be allowed on this basis. |
| A long standing developer in the internet browser | | | | An aggressive publicity drive by Opera, which included |
| market, Opera have a very small share in the | | | | issuing press releases to coincide with the application |
| traditional browser market. In the emerging world of | | | | submission and placing a prominent timer on its |
| mobile browsers however, it is a different story with | | | | website to observe how long the approvalprocess |
| Opera Mini being the most popular browser around. | | | | would take ensured that all eyes were on Apple which |
| With the huge iPhone market now available to them | | | | may have helped the process. |
| and no competition to speak of besides Mobile Safari, | | | | Another obstacle is that Apple does not allow third |
| Opera's dominance of this market has the potential to | | | | party apps to run their own javascript and |
| sky rocket. | | | | renderingprocesses on the iPhone. As Opera's servers |
| A key reason for Opera's success so far is its speed. | | | | handle this side of things rather than the phone itself, |
| Typically around three time as fast at browsing than | | | | itcould not be disallowed on this basis - this is the major |
| the competition, Opera manages this advantage by | | | | obstacle for other competitors such as Firefoxand the |
| doing the data crunching on Opera's own servers | | | | main reason they will not be following Opera on to the |
| andsending the compressed data back to the phone, | | | | iPhone anytime soon. |
| unlike other browsers which use the phone itself to | | | | For now then Opera has won the battle but not the |
| receiveand compute all the data. The difference when | | | | war. There is a long road ahead driving in to |
| using a dedicated wireless network is not so great but | | | | Safari'sestablished user base. There are also privacy |
| whenout and about using 2G or 3G networks the | | | | concerns about how Opera handles users data on its |
| improvement is considerable. The fact that less data is | | | | ownservers and the prospect of advertising to come |
| beingreceived by the phone also lessens the blow for | | | | in the future. |