3rd Party Web Browsers Allowed Into App Store
- News -
Over the past few days, a couple of web browsers have been approved for use in certain applications for the iPhone’s App Store. A number of these new web browsing apps have suddenly appeared with original submission dates ranging as far back as October.
Even though Apple has made no official statements, it appears that these applications were likely in a special queue awaiting approval. As you may have noticed, other similar “groups” experience delays in being approved as well. The most notable example involved farting apps like ‘Pull My Finger’ and ‘iFart Mobile’. Once Apple decided to allow the category within the App Store, a backlog of apps quickly appeared. There were some web browsing apps that had been charged with ‘duplicating the functionality’ of other iPhone apps and this was probably the reason why Opera was never approved by Apple.
Here’s a couple of those web browsing apps:
- Hot Browser (free) – This one’s pretty much a straight-forward web browser. It’s also got a feature that takes you to popular web sites when you shake your iPhone.
- Shaking Web ($1.99) – This web app adds a sophisticated algorithm to compensate for small hand shaking to allow for easier reading.
- Incognito ($1.99) – If your a kid who doesn’t want your parents to find out what you’ve been looking at, this one’s for you. This web app let’s you browse without leaving any history what-so-ever. Once you close the browser on your iPhone, the entire history is erased
- WebMate:Tabbed Browser ($0.99) – Web Mate makes web browsing simpler by queuing up all the links you click on, then allowing you to view them one by one when you’re ready.
Now, these are not replacements for the Safari app, they’re just tools to make your web browsing simpler and funner. Apps like these could mean opportunities for Opera and Firefox to be on the iPhone, though there remain other SDK restrictions that could prevent full-featured versions of those browsers from ever appearing. Still, Apple appears to be loosening some early restrictions they had applied to the App Store approval process.
We’ll get more info on this subject ASAP. L8RZ 