Opera Mini and Opera Mobile are highly capable browsers for mobile phones. Opera, which also makes a full desktop browser for both Windows and Apple machines, created a version of Opera Mini that will run on the iPhone. Too bad Apple won't allow Opera to offer it through the iPhone App Store.I use Opera Mini or Opera Mobile on every phone I test other than the iPhone. Both browsers offer a better mobile browsing experience than mobile Internet Explorer, most WAP browsers, and even the S60 browser to a degree.

The Apple iPhone's Safari browser has its strengths and weaknesses. Lack of support for Flash or not, however, it does a very good job of delivering a rich mobile Internet experience. Opera, ever developing for new platforms, created a version of Opera Mini to run on the iPhone.

According to The New York Times, Apple put the kibosh on it. The paper interviewed Opera CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner. It reports, "Mr. von Tetzchner said that Opera's engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple won't let the company release it because it competes with Apple's own Safari browser."

Apple has implied all along that it won't approve of applications that compete with the core functionalities of the iPhone. Opera Mini would do just that. I understand that Apple wants to protect its turf, but I also believe in user choice. Opera Mini and Opera Mobile offer a better mobile browsing experience than is found on most devices out of the box.

It's a shame iPhone users will never find out how well they work.