Comments on: Will Firefox & Opera Make It To The iPhone Now? http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/ The latest in online and mobile technology with Corvida Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:41:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Corvida Raven http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/comment-page-1/#comment-16902 Corvida Raven Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:46:03 +0000 http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/#comment-16902 You did a damn good job of it :D You did a damn good job of it :D

]]> By: Corvida http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/comment-page-1/#comment-15266 Corvida Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:46:03 +0000 http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/#comment-15266 You did a damn good job of it :D You did a damn good job of it :D

]]> By: Corvida http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/comment-page-1/#comment-14586 Corvida Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:46:03 +0000 http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/#comment-14586 You did a damn good job of it :D You did a damn good job of it :D

]]> By: Albert Willis http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/comment-page-1/#comment-14577 Albert Willis Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:43:51 +0000 http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/#comment-14577 Thanks for being a good sport about my reply; my intention was to clarify the App Store stuff and explain from my perspective what is and isn't happening with 3rd party browsers on the iPhone. Thanks for being a good sport about my reply; my intention was to clarify the App Store stuff and explain from my perspective what is and isn't happening with 3rd party browsers on the iPhone.

]]> By: Corvida http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/comment-page-1/#comment-14573 Corvida Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:23:01 +0000 http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/#comment-14573 Great reply Al!!! I loved reading this. Great reply Al!!! I loved reading this.

]]> By: Albert Willis http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/comment-page-1/#comment-14569 Albert Willis Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:49:42 +0000 http://shegeeks.net/will-firefox-opera-make-it-to-the-iphone-now/#comment-14569 The apps approved by Apple aren't really new browsers; they are just different implementations and approaches to browsing based on Mobile Safari's WebKit rendering engine. In other words, the code that renders the web pages in these apps is Apple's.<br><br>There's no indication that this opens the door to FireFox or Opera. If anything, it just shows that developers can create new browsers for the iPhone without getting FireFox or Opera involved.<br><br>The description for the newly approved <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=293672770&mt=8" rel="nofollow">Edge Browser</a> clearly states that it's basically a full-screen version of Safari:<br><br><blockquote>See your web page or web app in a full screen Safari Browser. No loss of screen real estate to the address or navigation bars. Specify your URL with any given parameters in the iPhone settings application under Edge Browser.</blockquote><br><br>It's pretty obvious by now that a 3rd party browser based on Gecko (FireFox's rendering engine) or anything else for that matter ain't coming to the iPhone anytime soon, or perhaps ever. <a href="http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-08/ff_lilly" rel="nofollow">Mozilla's CEO has already said as much.</a>This is similar to how there's not going to be Flash or Java for the iPhone either, which I'm completely fine and okay with.<br><br>To understand why this is the way it is, you have to understand Apple and the iPhone. They care about the user experience more than almost anything else; anything that messes with that is a no-no. Mobile Flash hogging processor cycles and killing the battery? Nope. A rendering engine that might render code differently than WebKit (which by now hundreds if not thousands of iPhone apps use) and confuse users? Not gonna happen. From a business point of view, they aren't going to give their competitors control of the video/animation, runtime environment or web rendering on their device. That doesn't make sense.<br><br>When it comes to web browsing (at least the engine part), if it ain't broken, don't fix it. Some of the newly approved apps provide specific enhancements that will be useful at times; but they won't replace Mobile Safari for most users or render anything differently than it does, a good thing.<br><br>Corvida asks, where's the real competition? I'd say WebKit is kicking the competition's asses. WebKit is the rendering engine of every mobile platform that matters: iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and now the Palm Pre. (Some Nokia phones, too.) Neither Google or Palm went with Mozilla or Opera's (mentioning IE was a joke, right?) mobile offerings; that should tell us something. The apps approved by Apple aren't really new browsers; they are just different implementations and approaches to browsing based on Mobile Safari's WebKit rendering engine. In other words, the code that renders the web pages in these apps is Apple's.

There's no indication that this opens the door to FireFox or Opera. If anything, it just shows that developers can create new browsers for the iPhone without getting FireFox or Opera involved.

The description for the newly approved Edge Browser clearly states that it's basically a full-screen version of Safari:

See your web page or web app in a full screen Safari Browser. No loss of screen real estate to the address or navigation bars. Specify your URL with any given parameters in the iPhone settings application under Edge Browser.

It's pretty obvious by now that a 3rd party browser based on Gecko (FireFox's rendering engine) or anything else for that matter ain't coming to the iPhone anytime soon, or perhaps ever. Mozilla's CEO has already said as much.This is similar to how there's not going to be Flash or Java for the iPhone either, which I'm completely fine and okay with.

To understand why this is the way it is, you have to understand Apple and the iPhone. They care about the user experience more than almost anything else; anything that messes with that is a no-no. Mobile Flash hogging processor cycles and killing the battery? Nope. A rendering engine that might render code differently than WebKit (which by now hundreds if not thousands of iPhone apps use) and confuse users? Not gonna happen. From a business point of view, they aren't going to give their competitors control of the video/animation, runtime environment or web rendering on their device. That doesn't make sense.

When it comes to web browsing (at least the engine part), if it ain't broken, don't fix it. Some of the newly approved apps provide specific enhancements that will be useful at times; but they won't replace Mobile Safari for most users or render anything differently than it does, a good thing.

Corvida asks, where's the real competition? I'd say WebKit is kicking the competition's asses. WebKit is the rendering engine of every mobile platform that matters: iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and now the Palm Pre. (Some Nokia phones, too.) Neither Google or Palm went with Mozilla or Opera's (mentioning IE was a joke, right?) mobile offerings; that should tell us something.

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