Apple approves Opera Mini for the Iphone

FIRST IT WAS Spotify that Apple allowed to compete with Itunes, and now Apple has also finally given permission for Iphone users to have another choice of a decent web browser.

The Opera Mini web browser is now available at the Apple App store for free, and it gives Iphone users another option when it comes to browsing the web. It took Apple a while longer to approve this app than usual, but that's understandable considering it will compete with its own Safari.

But then again having an Opera app doesn't cost Apple anything. Safari is already on all Iphones anyway, available for free. The fact is, it now offers a choice and a slightly different user experience, with some pages loading a lot faster on Opera than on Safari, which might be due to Opera's long experience with browsers on mobile devices.

The company says it can get faster speeds, especially on slower networks, due to compressing data by up to 90 per cent before sending content to the device. This might lead to a decrease in quality of course, but many users will take that tradeoff for a noticeable speed increase, which can be very useful on dodgy 3G network connections or the 2G Edge network.

The Opera Mini web browser was first seen at the Mobile World Congress in February, and the speed increase could be especially useful if you are overseas and having to deal with Iphone roaming charges. µ