The blogosphere is buzzing with the news that Apple has made a major policy change by approving 3rd party web browsing apps for the iPhone in the last 24 hours.
MacRumors is reporting that the web browsing applications that have got approved have original submission dates ranging as far back as October, indicating that they have made a policy change recently.
However, does this change in policy mean that we will see Opera Mini or Firefox Mobile apps for the iPhone?
Before I try to answer that question here are the list of 3rd party web browsing applications for the iPhone that were approved by Apple in the last 24 hour (courtesy MacRumors):
- Edge Browser (Free) - No loss of screen real estate to the address or navigation bars.
- Incognito ($1.99) - Now you can browse without leaving a history of any kind.
- WebMate:Tabbed Browser ($0.99) - Web Mate simplifies browsing by queuing up all the links you click on, then allowing you to view them one by one when you're ready.
- Shaking Web ($1.99) - adds a sophisticated algorithm to compensate for small hand shaking to allow for easier reading.
Quite frankly, they don't appear to be full-blown web browser applications, they merely seem to be applications which are all based on Safari's version of WebKit.
Gizmodo is spot on with the description of these apps:
And that is probably the reason these iPhone apps were approved by Apple. Though the only thing that seems unanswered; is the reason for approving
some of these 3rd party web browsing applications for the iPhone only
now.
Will this mean that full-blown browsers like Opera Mini, Firefox Mobile will be approved as iPhone apps? It is highly unlikely. If you have a been a regular reader here at iPhone Hacks, you will remember that Stephenson von Tetzchner, co-founder and CEO of Opera had given the following reason for halting development of their iPhone app while there were quite a few speculations that Opera Mini had got rejected from the App Store.
Should Apple allow full-blown browsers like Opera Mini? Absolutely, just like we can use the browser of our choice on the computer, we should be able to use any browser we want on the iPhone. I love iPhone's Safari browser so convincing me to switch to some other browser will be an uphill task.
But more importantly, it will keep Apple honest and will ensure that they are innovating more aggressively though based on their impressive track record such external pressure is not really required.
What do you think?
Thanks Josh for the tip!
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I agree, and I think if Apple continue to take this attitude to competing software they will soon come to the notice of the regulators at least in the UK…
I think Apple will allow the other Full blown Webbrowsers soon. I luv Safari, but i do have some issues accessing secure websites in Safari. I wud definately try 3rd party browser.
And does Apple ever care what we think!
I think it is unfair not to allow any completely independent third party web browsers that are not Dependant on Safari browser. There are many websites which are not customized for iPhone and Safari crashes when trying to browse them on my iPhone (including this website). I have tried some other web browsers which are MyFox (from Cydia) and Google's app, they both crashes with these websites too and this is expected as they are Dependant on Safari browser. I want to see a unique Opera, Firefox & even Google Chrome browsers for iPhone soon because I hope that they will be more stable with all websites and not going to crash frequently like Safari. They may come with their own built-in plugins like Flash player which is a huge advantage to the iPhone community.