Like the Opera Web Browser? Don't Expect It for Your iPhone!

The Opera Mini browser is one of the most popular apps for smartphones and cell phones—it is clearly head-and-shoulders above the various web browsers provided by wireless companies for most phones.  Users have come to love Opera Mini's adaptability to most web pages, its ability to give cell phone users a pretty good surfing experience, and features—such as a usable and extensive surfing history—which other browsers don't even come close to approaching.  You would think that it would make a superb app for the iPhone.

Well, think again.  Apple doesn't want you to have it.  Some software engineers at Opera began developing an iPhone version of Opera Mini, but they had to give up on the project when Opera executives determined that Apple's software licensing agreement for the iPhone prohibited use of the browser.  Why?  Apple doesn't want any competition with their Safari browser. 

Apple has always wanted to be known as a company that embraces innovation for its users.  Really?  Maybe they should give Microsoft a call to ask about their experience of trying to force Internet Explorer on every PC user.  Things didn't work out so well for Microsoft—the U.S. Department of Justice even opened a little anti-trust investigation over the matter. 

And maybe Apple should consider whether iPhone users that have choices are, in the end, happier than users that have their options dictated to them by Big Brother Jobs.

[via NY Times]