Apple Not Accepting Opera Mini on iPhone

http://www.osnews.com/story/20455/Apple_Not_Accepting_Opera_Mini_on_iPhone

by qhoxie • 18 years ago

45 61 18 years ago

osnews.com

tptacek13• 18 years ago

I don't believe this surprised anybody, including the Opera team.

dmpayton3• 18 years ago

Agreed, it's not like this is the first time Apple has denied a "competing" application.

I can't wait for Android to be released on a decent handset. Then I can give my iPhone to my wife.

tptacek13• 18 years ago

This isn't Podcast Listener Pro or whatever; nobody will be surprised if Apple turns down Windows Media Player or Azureus either. One expects Opera did this largely as a publicity stunt.

You're going to be the one geek in the room with the Android phone and the Nomad MP3 player, you know. =)

zzzmarcus• 18 years ago

I have an iPhone and have used Android on the G1 extensively... the best (if not lacking in creativity) comparison between the OS's is Android is like Ubuntu on the desktop and the iPhone is like OS X on the desktop. If you're happy using Ubuntu, you'll probably be happy using Android.

I think it's going to come down to values--easy and flashy vs. open. If the Linux vs. Windows/OS X battle of the last 10 years is any indication, my guess is that the iPhone will dominate the market and Android will only win geek cred.

Dilpil• 18 years ago

Classic example of a business sacrificing long term gains for short term gains. Sure they gain money by doing this via google or whatever. But in the long run, well, this is why there is no Apple developer ecosystem.

dmix• 18 years ago

This is why there is no Apple developer ecosystem.

Is this a known fact or your personal opinion?

I only develop for the web but I always thought Apple had strong support from developers which is why it has some of the best designed software.

wizlb4• 18 years ago

It's fairly well known that Apple has a very small developer base and that they treat developers poorly in a number of ways. For one, they've been known to break backwards compat. like it's nobody's business.

Sure, a lot of nix people use Macs now, but ask them if they're developing software for the Mac OS. Most likely, the answer is no. They're doing nix stuff.

Compare the Apple developer "ecosystem" to that of the Windows and Linux world. Can you see any big differences?

wmeredith• 18 years ago

It's ham-handed typical Apple, but honestly, I'm glad. One of the main reasons I enjoy developing iPhone sites is that I don't have to support a bunch of random user agents.

trezor2• 18 years ago

You should be developing mobile sites, not iPhone sites.

Or do you think that making "MSIE only" sites too is an acceptable way of dealing with web-pages and users?

DarkShikari• 18 years ago

I'm always confused by this. If Dell didn't allow Opera or Firefox or Linux to be installed on the computers they sell, or Microsoft didn't allow 3rd-party applications on Windows, people would be up in arms. But Apple is allowed to block anyone from installing any application on their own personal iPhone, and there aren't lawsuits flying?

qqq2• 18 years ago

Is Apple preventing it from being installed in any way or just via Apple's app distribution mechanism? (I don't know either way, just asking.)

alexandros• 18 years ago

just via Apple's distribution mechanism. Which is the only way to install stuff on your iPhone, short of jailbreaking it.

Zaak• 18 years ago

My understanding is that the only other way to install apps on an iPhone is to hack it, which opens up its own can of worms.

andreyf• 18 years ago

IANAL, but although the phone hardware is "yours", I think what you can do with the OS is defined by the license agreement. Prohibiting third-party software on Windows may seem crazy, but there's no reason a EULA cannot prohibit it.

unalone2• 18 years ago

But Dell offers an open platform. Blocking a particular app would require making an exception. The iPhone is closed; every time Apple approves an app it's making an exception. And Apple's already stated that they won't accept JavaScript interpreters.

axod• 18 years ago

It's just the same as a billion other areas - mp3 players, tvs, phones, games consoles. The PC is pretty unique in terms of its openness to 3rd party software.

But IMHO it's a moot point - the iPhone has a fantastic fast fully featured browser which can do most stuff.

ken• 18 years ago

Gruber at http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/10/30/opera-iphone:

"I don’t see how this is surprising at all. One can argue about whether it’s a good policy for Apple not to allow third-party web browsers on the iPhone, but unlike other rejections, this one is not arbitrary. The iPhone SDK Agreement clearly forbids writing your own JavaScript interpreter."

anewaccountname3• 18 years ago

What if the only reason it forbids it is to prevent Opera, Flash, et. al. from coming to the iPhone? Then Gruber has his cause and effect wrong. Even if he doesn't, this is still sick in sort of the same way that Alumni preferences keeping blacks out of state funded schools is--sure there is technically another reason than there blackness, but the end effect is still bad.

juliend2• 18 years ago

Concurence déloyale

trezor2• 18 years ago

While I'm not surprised by this, it kinda sucks. If you are going to make mobile pages, being able to test on as many browsers as possible is a good thing.

With moves like this, Apple pretty much forces me to keep a Windows Mobile phone around as well.

Apple Not Accepting Opera Mini on iPhone

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