Is Opera Mini mobile browser really coming to iPhone?

A lot of excitement has been generated by an announcement from Opera this morning. According to the software firm the mobile version of its internet browser, Opera Mini, will be demonstrated as an iPhone app during Mobile World Congress. This is a welcome announcement for Opera fans with iPhones, who have so far been denied access to their browser of choice. But what does Apple think about this?

Opera Mini:

Opera Mini is pretty much the biggest mobile browser out there. In March last year, Opera reported that more than 23 million people were using Opera Mini. By the middle of 2009 it was clocking over 10 billion page views per month. The Version 5 release last year made it more adaptable than ever, with an incredibly smooth UI on both touch-screen and physical-keyboard devices.

But it never appeared on iPhone. Most people assume that’s because Apple doesn’t want Opera competing with it’s own iPhone browser – the mobile version of Apples Safari. Apple does have a history of that kind of thing. It only approved the Spotify app for iPhone after the FCC started an investigation into anti-competitive behaviour on its part.

So, what has changed?

Nothing. Apple has not approved Opera Mini for iPhone. This really does appear to be a big publicity stunt on Operas behalf – an attempt to push Apple in the direction of what Opera wants. The problem there is that Apple doesn’t like being pushed – just look at on-going battle between it and Nokia (see our report).

What’s the iPhone version like?

Much the same as the other versions! It concentrates on compressing the full web into mobile-friendly sizes, which increases both load speed and data charges. It has as many full-web features in there as it possibly can, including tabbed browsing and a password manager. They’ve even got a graphic of it in action:

What we think?

In all ways but one, the Opera Mini browser for iPhone is ready to roll. But if Apple doesn’t want Opera Mini on iPhone, then Opera Mini won’t go on iPhone. Not all the grandstanding, press releases and graphics in the world will change that.

Still, I wish Opera the best of luck. It’s mobile browser is world-class, and it’s a shame that it doesn’t run on iPhone already.