Opera Mini browser submitted to Apple App Store: Five times faster than Safari?

Opera's Mini mobile browser has been offered up to Apple's App Store gatekeepers. Will it make it on to the iPhone? We have first-look video and screenshots

Richard Trenholm

Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.

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Richard Trenholm

March 23, 2010 6:12 a.m. PT

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Opera Mini has been submitted to the iTunes App Store. The mobile version of the lightning-fast browser will be evaluated by Apple's app team -- but will it make on to the iPhone?

Apple infamously refuses to allow apps that duplicate the functions of the iPhone's native software, in this case the built-in Web browser Safari. So could Opera buffs be wasting their time? Even if the app fails to get the Jobs nod in Apple's notoriously tough approval process, this will draw attention to Opera's super-snappy speed.

Hit play on the video below to see Opera in action on the iPhone, loading five pages in the time it takes arthritic Safari to load one in a 2G speed test. Then click 'Continue' for our gallery of screen shots.