
An interesting NYT Bits blog entry covers
Opera's mobile browser. Buried in the middle of the article is this quote: "Opera's engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple won't let the company release it because it competes with Apple's own Safari browser." It also talks about Opera on the Wii and browsers in cars. A good read.
My Take: But back to the iPhone. As tempted as I am to just shrug it off, since Apple is free to run its App Store any way it pleases, as an enthusiastic iPhone user, I think Apple is shooting itself in the foot here, as it is with all the "competitive" apps being rejected. Apple does stand to lose some Google revenue by letting people use other browsers, but they have much more to gain by unleashing the creativity of the developer community and giving them the freedom to improve or replace core iPhone functionality. Hopefully competition from Android forces them to wake up.
Member since:
2005-11-21
Like hell they would. You forget something. I'll help out. If Microsoft sold their own developed Phone they could put whatever the hell browser on it that they want.
Of course they would have to negotiate with the Telcos and deal with the Telcos telling them what they can and cannot have on that phone, or they can find another carrier to negotiate for more control. Meanwhile, other companies will step up and work with the Telco to get the contract.