It’s happening again. The whole Windows+IE story is going to be repeated, and well, we all now that history tends to repeat itself.
In a shocking move, Apple has tagged Opera Mini browser’s download from the AppStore as mature, and before downloading, you need to confirm that you are over 17.
Is Apple really that concerned about anonymous browsing capabilities built-in within the Opera iPhone browser? Is the company really moving to protect our kids from porn? Why not add a similar warning to Safari’s first-run process, then?
Recent events have just take a ridiculous turn in my opinion. If you are selling a device, you are also selling the rights of ownership. You can’t be the big brother so “kindly” watching over us, keeping us from “being naughty boys.” I myself don’t believe in mobile porn business, but I certainly believe in freedom, and that, in my opinion is restricting that freedom.
Steve Jobs might have started a revolution in mobile trend, but he is really showing that he just can’t bear the idea of other people sharing the ground with him. You can easily see that, when Opera has not only to compete with a browser already installed into the device, but only get through alarming warnings. Also, bear in mind that as the built-in browser, it has now been a long time since anybody used anything but Apple Safari on iPhone, so familiarity of application is another factor acting in favor of Apple.
But seriously, we all know that competition only makes competitors work harder. So, Apple, is this an indication that you don’t want to work harder and provide us with a better solution? Because it just seems damned so.
Also, read this entry from the Next Web on the same subject.