First non-WebKit browser cleared for App Store

Opera tonight revealed the surprise news that Opera Mini for the iPhone has been approved by Apple. The app is the first not to use a WebKit-based rendering engine and promises to speed up browsing significantly while also cutting back on bandwidth. Much like other versions, it sends websites through a proxy that compresses as much as 90 percent of the data; nearly all load faster as a result.

Besides speed, Opera Mini also promises features that are normally reserved for the desktop, such as a visual browsing of favorites known as Speed Dial (Top Sites in Safari 4). The app isn't yet available through the App Store but should be available for free within the next 24 hours.

The approval may come as a result of competitive scrutiny but may also simply come as a virtue of Opera Mini's behavior. Since the pages aren't rendered directly on the phone itself, much of the code interpretation that Apple normally forbids wouldn't be present. Apple has always allowed competing browsers as long as they use the WebKit engine when rendering pages locally.

Opera has long made a public show of its submission of the app as it believed the browser might challenge Apple's policies. The approval diminishes the potential conflict but raises the possibility of other browsers getting through, although it's unlikely that Firefox or other majors will get through due to their needs for wholly different, local rendering engines. Other platforms like Android have been relatively trouble-free for Opera due to their more open platforms, although few significantly different alternatives exist.

By Electronista Staff