Andre Yoskowitz
2 Nov 2008 0:16
Apple has come under criticism this week for their apparent blocking of the popular mobile browser Opera Mini from the iPhone App Store.
Opera chief Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner has said they have the alternative to Apple's Safari browser already developed but Apple's App Store guidelines will not let it through as it will compete directly with Safari.
When the iPhone SDK was released in March, it became clear that Apple would "specifically bars third-party interpreters that call on non-Apple frameworks and languages, which by definition would include Opera's web rendering engine. This would have left Opera Software converting software unlikely to be released in the near term."
The news marks at least the second time an App has been blocked for competing directly with Apple products. Last month a podcast download and playback utility called Podcaster was blocked because it apparently replicated iTunes. There is currently no Apple-based equivalent available.