According to a recent post by Mac Rumors, Apple has begun to approve 3rd party web browsing apps for the App Store. After a quick check of the list and the App Store, sure enough all four web browsers that were mentioned in the article are available in the App Store. Fantastic, but I still see a problem.

Where’s The REAL Competition?

None of these apps are from any companies that would give Safari Mobile some stiff competition like Opera or Firefox (or dare I say IE?). I’ve never even heard of the browsers that were approved before today. None of these apps offer anything over Safari either. Clearly Apple is still blocking the competition. Can we say “HATERRR!”? Come on Apple, stop being a punk and take on the competition head to head on your own turf!

What A Joke!

As an iPhone owner, I have to say I’m a little pissed that Apple will still continue to block competition. I highly doubt Firefox or Opera will make it to the iPhone, despite these new offerings. To me, they’re all jokes to Apple which is probably why they were approved. Could Safari see a drop in its percentage of market share if Apple were to approve competitor browsers? Probably so if the competition’s apps crash less than Safari does. Despite recent offerings, I wouldn’t get my hopes up on this issue. Apple is playing this game dirty the entire way through.