Some time ago Apple approved Opera Mini and now everybody can download it for free. Skyfire team understood it as a reason to work harder so now they look forward to bring their own mobile browser to iPhone and iPod Touch. Skyfire CEO Jeff Glueck congratulated the Opera in his company’s blog and told about upcoming version for ‘iDevices’.

The idea of their app is almost the same as for the Opera -- the browser also renders web content though the remote servers of the company and then presents it on a mobile devices. But with Skyfire users can view Silverlight, Flash and Quicktime content without needing any of the plugins or powerful processor.

The video above shows how the Skyfire browser works on Symbian devices.

Today Opera announced their Opera Mini browser has been finally approved and included in App Store. The app was submitted to Apple almost a month ago. Some people thought the Cupertino’s company won’t approve it because it competes with Safari, the browser that included with the iPod Touch and iPhone.

Opera Mini is a choice of more than 50 million people because it compresses up to 90% of content before sending it to the end user. Such an algorithm significantly improves page loading and helps to save money on traffic.

You can download Opera Mini here.

A few days ago Opera Mini browser was sent to Apple for the review. While waiting anxiously for the Apple’s decision we have found an interesting video from IntoMobile. It compares the speed of Safari and Opera Mini browsers. Which one do you think is faster?

Take a look at the video:

Opera Mini has been submitted to the AppStore. The browsing speed is impressive, since Opera is sending traffic through its servers which compresses webpages. The iPhone picks up the compressed content and displays it at rates which Opera believes to be up to five times as fast as Mobile Safari. This technology works nice especially on low speed networks.

Check out the video below.

Will Apple let Opera Mini into the AppStore? The chances are quite low.

Update: Opera published a counter tracking how long the approval process has taken.

Take a look at Opera on iPhone photo gallery:

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Here is a video of Opera Mini for iPhone (Alpha version). Now the product is in complete beta, so this video is a bit outdated. However it still it gives some impression of what Opera Mini on iPhone looks like:

Opera had finally demonstrated new Opera Mini for the iPhone at the Mobile World Congress.

In comparison to the default iPhone browser it looks pretty quick – Opera Mini loads the New York Times like 5x faster than its rival. Its main disadvantage is that it lacks the all-important feature pinch-to-zoom, and the only alternative is a method of double-tapping the webpages. Generally, the iPhone owners will find that the usual silky smooth scrolling through favorite webpages and responsive interface are maintained at the very best.

Unlike other platforms, the iPhone variant actually remembers the website you happened to browse last – the feature that will obviously be favored by a legion of iPhone admirers.

Company says as soon as beta tag is removed the browser will be submitted for approval. And it is not obvious whether Apple approve it or not, because it maintains the option of rejecting any app that “duplicates functionality” of the apps Apple builds into the iPhone. Opera co-founder Jon von Tetzchner has his own point of view on this:

“Opera Mini is the world’s most popualr mobile browser and users on the iPhone deserve a choice.”

Opera Software company just announced that it plans to show Opera Mini browser for iPhone during the Mobile World Congress 2010 (MWC).

“We are thrilled to offer journalists and partners an exclusive preview of Opera Mini for iPhone during the year’s biggest mobile event,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software. “This is a unique opportunity to introduce the fast, feature-rich Opera Mini experience for the iPhone, and to showcase our latest beta releases of Opera Mobile and Opera Mini on other platforms and devices. Opera’s mission is to bring the Web to the world, and by making Opera Mini available on yet another platform, we are one step closer.”

But remember that Apple would never allow alternative browsers that are not based on WebKit. So what’s the point of all this? A Cydia Store release? The real intent might be to draw attention to Opera’s Mobile and Mini browsers running on other platforms where the software is actually released like Symbian, Windows Mobile, and Android.

In an interview to NY Times 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.

We hope that some day Opera will be avaliable as iPhone unofficail software via Cydia Installer.