iPhone Apps on Ulitzer

Risking the fire-breathing wrath of Apple, Opera plans to preview an unsanctioned version of its browser for the iPhone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week.

Cautiously, it's not going to show it off to just anybody, only partners and the press.

How Apple will react in defense of its own Safari browser is a curiosity given its policy of not duplicating functionality and casting Google Voice into the outer darkness last year.

The Norwegian company, remember, complained to the European commission about Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with Windows and we wound up with the ballot screen.

The Opera Mini 5 browser for the iPhone is supposed to be six times faster than Safari because it compresses web pages maybe 90% before they appear on a mobile device, reducing data surcharges. The widgetry also includes tabs, speed dial and a password manager, which Opera may argue makes it unique and non-duplicative.

It's unclear when the thing could be submitted to Apple's Apps Store for approval. Opera's telling callers it can't imagine why it wouldn't be accepted.