On October 27^th, the BITS section of the New York Times published an interview with Opera’s co-founder and chief executive Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, who discussed several matters, such as the future of web browsers, especially those which are meant for mobile devices. It is mentioned that they developed a version of Opera Mini for the iPhone, however, it was surprising to read that it was rejected due to the fact that it represents a direct competition for Safari web browser.

It has been known that Apple has rejected several apps claiming that those applications “reply core functionality” of apps that are already installed on the iPhone or iPod touch. Gmail App or Podcasting app come to my mind.

I think that is a not so smart move by Apple, because it represents a limitation for developers, making them lose interest on developing new applications for that particular platform. It’s also considered non-ethic, because it is limiting competition and gives the impression to be a bit like a monopoly, mostly because Opera Mini could bring something interesting to customers which could differentiate it from the native web browser Safari. The ones that get more affected are precisely us, the consumers, who should have the freedom of choosing between different options, the one that best suits our needs. For example, on my Nokia E71 I have installed three different browsers: the default browser from Nokia, Opera Mini, and Skyfire. I have been using my device for around a month, so I haven’t been able to decide which browser is the best one for me, only time will tell.

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