Opera challenges Apple

Getting away from the clash of the titans that are Google vs. China and health-care vs. Republican ideals, a David vs. Goliath battle is taking place between Opera Software and Apple. As many of you may know, in the strictly controlled iPhone environment there can only be one browser, that is Safari. Other attempts have been turned down by the clause that apps are not allowed to interpret any thrid party code.

Now Opera enters the ring and dares to challenge Apple by submitting Opera-Mini to the App-Store. And there are two things that make this attempt interesting: For one, Opera is not interpreting code themselves apparently, but letting remote servers do the work and sending the compressed result to the iPhone. This not only circumvents Apple's clause, but also allows much faster web page rendering than Safari. Secondly, Omni is doing everything it can to make this approval process as public as possible, in order to shame Apple should they turn it down. There is even a contest to pick the number of hours it will take for Apple to approve the browser. The candidate with the closest estimate to the actual number of hours will receive - drum roll - a free iPhone!

Now the ball is in Apple's park, and the company could still turn down the App due to the "duplication of functionality" clause. The pressure is on, especially with Safari looking so bad compared to Opera. Whatever the decision, it will give developers and users a clear signal of where Apple is heading, and should give an indication of just how tightly controlled the iPad will be. So what will it be, Apple? Stick to being the dictator, or open up to the world? Video after the break.