Opera’s Mini Browser Submitted To The App Store

Opera has submitted their Mini 5 browser to Apple for approval, to be released in the App Store. This browser has been released on pretty much every other smart phone, but because of Apple’s strict approval policy, it has not been able to make it’s way to the iPhone. Opera thinks they have met all of Apple’s standards, so now only time will tell, if we’ll see the browser hit the App Store.

Here’s the official press release:

Opera Mini for iPhone was officially submitted to the Apple iPhone App store today. A select few first saw it at Mobile World Congress 2010 in February. Now, the “fast like a rocket” browser is taking its first big step towards giving users a new way to browse on the iPhone.

Early reviews of Opera Mini for iPhone praised the sheer browsing speed, powering through Web pages up to six times faster than Safari. Due to server-side rendering, Opera Mini compresses data by up to 90 percent before sending it to the phone, resulting in rapid page loading and more Web per MB for the end user. Those familiar with iPhone roaming charges will relish Opera Mini’s ability to deliver more for less, giving users the Web they want quickly, without, the high costs.

“The Opera Mini for iPhone sneak peek during MWC told us that we have something special,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software. “Opera has put every effort into creating a customized, stylized, feature-rich and highly responsive browser that masterfully combines iPhone capabilities with Opera’s renowned Web experience, and the result is a high performing browser for the iPhone.”

Opera Mini is the world’s most popular mobile Web browser, famed for bringing the Web to nearly any mobile phone. Its speed, usability and navigation-friendly design have catapulted this browser onto more than 50 million mobile phones worldwide. Creating a version for iPhone is part of Opera’s mission to bring the Web to all platforms and all devices.

Although Mobile Safari is a great mobile browser, iPhone users are always on the look out for something better and/or faster. Just a while ago we saw the Droid Mini Browser hit the App Store. It is similar to Opera’s Mini Browser, and is quite a bit faster than Safari. It has since been removed from the App Store, making things not look too good for Opera. The jailbreak community has enjoyed other browsers like Zap Browser, which mimiced the Palm Pre browser, and the newest release in Cydia, the UC Browser.

Here’s Opera’s video preview of Opera Mini Browser 5: