After blocking Opera from making its way into iPhones, Apple has finally started to allow third party browsers on the App Store. Of course, times have changed, and farting apps are cool now. It appears Apple is loosening the strings a bit.
So far, four browsers have made it to the App Store, and all four of them run on top of the Mobile Safari engine that the SDK provides. I don’t think Apple will allow a browser to bring in its own rendering engine, like Firefox with Gecko, but Opera mini will definitely stand a chance as it has an image loading technique that does rendering on Opera servers.
Edge (free) is a full screen browser, the url to which you set in the settings of the iPhone (aka, useless). Incognito ($1.99) brings in the famed private browsing feature of the desktop browser into the mobile arena. It will make sure no traces are left behind of your secret work. WebMate ($0.99) brings in some unique way of implementing tabbed browsing, one that I’m very interested in trying out. Shaking Web ($1.99) on the other hand uses your accelerometer to adjust the content according to jerky hand movements.
Well that’s good news that Apple is finally being more competitive with the App Store. Who knows, maybe they might even allow some deeper access for the SDK. I’m just surprised however. That the developers were actually daring enough to make an app against Apple’s previously competitive policies.
[via MacRumors]
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So, there’s Incognito, a ‘porn mode’; and Shaking Web, an app that adjusts content according to “jerky hand movements”? Seems like there’s an opportunity for bundling there.