Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner has said that his company is capable of making a browser for the iPhone, but is unwilling to do so as he says it's too much of a risk.
The Opera chief has pointed out that the company has spent a long time developing its Opera Mini software for platforms like the BlackBerry, and done so successfully, but it's been forced to baulk at doing the same for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch.
"To put an effort into making it customised to work on the iPhone - that's a fair amount of work, and doing that at the risk of not getting distribution, that's pretty bad," he told The Register.
Fit and proper
"We've done a fair amount of work to make Opera Mini run well on the Blackberry, and we'd do the same thing for the iPhone."
The problem apparently stems from the fact Apple's licensing agreement means it is unclear that should a company or developer spend time creating an application, in this case a compatible Opera Mini browser, there are no guarantees it will be passed 'fit' for the devices.
Apple has had previous run-ins with Opera over porting its browser onto the iPhone, after von Tetzchner previously told the NY Times that Apple won't allow the software on its phones, so we're still waiting for Apple to let the other kids pay with its toys.
Via The Register
