3rd Party Browsers Now On The iPhone
January 15, 2009 by Ryan Ray
We’ve talked quite frequently about the app store and how stingy it can be sometimes with what it allows and what it doesn’t allow. That’s why today this news surprises me. Of course Apple at first NEVER allowed any app to be too similar to any of the apps already on the iPhone. The original apps, that being the ones before the 2.0 update, were safe from competition. No developer could make an app too similar to them. That went for any calculator app, weather, media manager, etc… Obviously that also included ANY 3rd party browser. Apple has a special spot for Safari in everything, there was no way they would let any 3rd party browsers in the app store. That is…UNTIL NOW
That’s right, in a shocking and bold move Apple has started offering and allowing 3rd party apps to exist in the app store. To me this is a big move and says a lot about the new policies in the app store. The app store is slowly loosening it’s belt, so to speak. Apps that propose the same functionality as each other are now allowed, and FINALLY we are given the choice to choose the browser we want. Now, it does look like Apple is really listening to it’s customers on issues like this. The people want the iPhone to truly be open and able to do anything they want with. This can’t be entirely possibly, but I think Apple is doing a good job thus far. Of course they can’t break their contract with ATT and let you have the iPhone on any network. Hah, although there is a work around for that.
So far with 3rd party apps there aren’t any big name browsers in there but, let’s do a quick overview of what is available. First there is the Edge Browser It’s free and this does just as it name says. It pushes the browser borders to the edge of your screen. You don’t loose any screen area to the navigation bar on the bottom or address bar at the top.
Secondly is the Incognito browser price at $1.99. This also does just as it name says. You can browse without leaving any trace of where you’ve been or what you’ve done. Perfect for you internet criminals, hah, only kidding!
The third one we have is WebMate:Tabbed Browser which comes in at $.99. This makes your browsing simple by providing tabs to browse with instead of new windows every time. A very cool concept
Finally our last browser, this one is my favorite just because of the genius behind it. It’s called Shaking Web and cost $1.99. It will, just as it name says, make it easier to read a web page as you walk or are in any situation where you hand shakes. It has a fancy algorithm and compensates for your hand shakes. This makes it easier to read the web page. Very cool and worth checking out.
That’s all for now, not a BIG selection but it’s definitely a start. I think this is big and good news for Apple and us iPhone owners. Now perhaps Firefox or Opera can come to the iPhone, please no one develop Internet Explorer for the iPhone. Why would anyone try and sell IE in the app store, haha. This may even make way for flash to come to our browsers. Of course only time will tell. What’s your opinion on this new development? Is it good or bad? Leave a comment and let me know!
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