Opera Software, a well-known web tool development company, recently announced they would be bringing the latest version of their Opera mobile browser to the iPhone in the coming weeks. Opera Mini is widely regarded as one of the best mobile browsing experiences available for other mobile device platforms, due largely to Opera’s advanced compression technology.

Opera’s browser sets itself apart from other browsers available for the iPhone by utilizing a proprietary compression technology that, according to Opera, “results in significantly faster Web-page loading and reduces data surcharges.”

This will give end-users a faster web experience on their phones and also reduce the amount of data used by the phones which benefits not only consumers, but also wireless internet providers looking to reduce strain on their wireless networks.

Read on to find out how Opera’s compression technology works and how this will affect iPhone users.

Opera has attempted to release their own custom browser in the App Store the in the past but was denied because of Apple’s policy of rejecting all independently developed applications duplicating the functionality of the iPhone’s built-in applications. Opera has stated they are aware of the situation, but still hope Opera Mini differentiates itself from Safari Mobile by offering the data compression technology.

How it works

The compression technology works by using a proxy server. The user enters a URL into the standard URL entry field and the information request is sent to an Opera server, the information is then retrieved from the internet, compressed, and sent back to the users phone. All of this is said to happen very quickly and will actually be faster than using Safari Mobile.

What consumers are saying

Much ire has been directed towards AT&T since they have acquired the iPhone because many believe AT&T’s network is inadequate to handle the level of data used by the average iPhone user. Opera’s data compression technology would not only help AT&T’s network from being strained, but it will also help consumers that have limited data plans (no such plans exist for the iPhone in the US, but there are some overseas) to stay within their bandwidth limits.

Hopefully Apple realizes the potential for allowing data compression to be used for web data on the iPhone and approves this application when Opera decides to submit it to the App Store. If Apple does decide to deny the application again, hopefully Opera decides to release the browser for jailbroken phones via Cydia or some other legitimate third-party application store. Of course, we could always start a fun Apple rumor if/when Apple does deny this application about whether they’re going to use that fancy new server farm in North Carolina for just this purpose.

Blackberry does data compression, maybe Apple should too…

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