Yeah, you heard that right. An Opera developer has stated that they are working on an iPhone version of their browser to be released alongside the iPhone SDK - whenever it comes out. Why? It is hard to speculate - the Safari browser really makes the iPhone/iPod amazing. Opera is persistant though. They want their browser to run on every single device that exists in the universe - from toasters to spaceships, Opera wants to work on everything. Oh and there is this thing called FLASH.
Realistically, though, they aren't going to have much of a chance against Safari on the platform. Opera is a solid browser and brings some awesome features to the fold (built in torrent downloading for instance) but the mobile Safari, with its panning and zooming features will be hard to beat.
I guess we'll have to see. Competition is always good for consumers (us) and perhaps they'll come up with some new features that aren't available yet on Safari. We are looking forward to trying it out.
Wed, 01/09/2008 - 09:02 — Paul Walker (not verified)
wow, that's stupid. Opera mini.devices/desktop are all great browsers. But on an iPhone? Mobile Safari is by far the best mobile browser - I've never heard anyone even attempt to disagree with that, even those that don't like the iPhone.
Though in a wider sense - if this is true this is great news. If Apple was being heavy-handed with protecting their SDK from unwanted apps, i would think that opera would be high on that list. perhaps this means hope for official third-party VOIP on the iPhone?
Yes, Safari is great but it's not perfect. If Opera can ship a browser with Flash support, I'm all over it.
Oh and looking at the Developer's information for Apple iPhone/Touch, it is easy to implement a panning/zooming option. It won't be hard to beat at all.
Opera isn't stupid. They wouldn't waste their time building a browser that's inferior to Safari. It's an ambitious company and they'll make sure it outdoes what's currently offered in Safari.
I'm certainly going to check it out once released.
It would be nice if the Safari Browser on the touch would actually work for more than 2 minutes. That thing is always crashing. It is a hunk of junk. It will be nice if someone can actually get a browser to run well on these devices.
More details? I've not heard this before (although I admittedly don't hang out a lot on iPhone dedicated boards) and I've not seen this on the Touch. What patch version? Jailbroken? If so other apps installed?
Maybe someone should port Internet Explorer to the iPhone. Not that anybody actually wants Internet Explorer, but it will undoubtedy introduce exploits for our friends the jailbreakers. And I guess for bad guys as well, I didn't say it was a perfect plan. It's certainly not realistic.
If Opera does this right, they will make it use their proxy, just like the Opera Mini. This will reduce the transferred data down to about 1/10 of the original. This makes it very useful for those who doesn´t have unlimited data subscriptions (turbosim...).
Is it just me or did I just waste all this time listening to this guy babble on and on, only to hear in the last 5 seconds of the video, "Will there be Opera for the iPhone... Yes."
lets not forget that the new "legit" native iphone applications will most likely have to be submitted to apple, and then distributed through iTunes so that they can charge for them. with this kind of control, do you think apple is going to allow applications that compete with their own software? maybe, but i doubt it.
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Great, I can't watch the
Great, I can't watch the video on my iphone...
wow, that's stupid. Opera
wow, that's stupid. Opera mini.devices/desktop are all great browsers. But on an iPhone? Mobile Safari is by far the best mobile browser - I've never heard anyone even attempt to disagree with that, even those that don't like the iPhone.
Though in a wider sense - if this is true this is great news. If Apple was being heavy-handed with protecting their SDK from unwanted apps, i would think that opera would be high on that list. perhaps this means hope for official third-party VOIP on the iPhone?
Awesome, bring on the
Awesome, bring on the competition.
Yes, Safari is great but
Yes, Safari is great but it's not perfect. If Opera can ship a browser with Flash support, I'm all over it.
Oh and looking at the Developer's information for Apple iPhone/Touch, it is easy to implement a panning/zooming option. It won't be hard to beat at all.
Opera isn't stupid. They wouldn't waste their time building a browser that's inferior to Safari. It's an ambitious company and they'll make sure it outdoes what's currently offered in Safari.
I'm certainly going to check it out once released.
It would be nice if the
It would be nice if the Safari Browser on the touch would actually work for more than 2 minutes. That thing is always crashing. It is a hunk of junk. It will be nice if someone can actually get a browser to run well on these devices.
More details? I've not
More details? I've not heard this before (although I admittedly don't hang out a lot on iPhone dedicated boards) and I've not seen this on the Touch. What patch version? Jailbroken? If so other apps installed?
Maybe someone should port
Maybe someone should port Internet Explorer to the iPhone. Not that anybody actually wants Internet Explorer, but it will undoubtedy introduce exploits for our friends the jailbreakers. And I guess for bad guys as well, I didn't say it was a perfect plan. It's certainly not realistic.
Panning and zooming? Opera
Panning and zooming? Opera did that ages before the iPhone came around. Remember the DS browser or Wii Internet Channel?
If Opera does this right,
If Opera does this right, they will make it use their proxy, just like the Opera Mini. This will reduce the transferred data down to about 1/10 of the original. This makes it very useful for those who doesn´t have unlimited data subscriptions (turbosim...).
Remember that Opera is using
Remember that Opera is using mouse gestures for a long time now. It's not that they don't have ideas how to intelligently use an input device.
Is it just me or did I just
Is it just me or did I just waste all this time listening to this guy babble on and on, only to hear in the last 5 seconds of the video, "Will there be Opera for the iPhone... Yes."
Sorry - that's why we put
Sorry - that's why we put the note in there.
lets not forget that the new
lets not forget that the new "legit" native iphone applications will most likely have to be submitted to apple, and then distributed through iTunes so that they can charge for them. with this kind of control, do you think apple is going to allow applications that compete with their own software? maybe, but i doubt it.
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