iPhone users now have a choice in their web browsing experience!

I previously ran a post regarding Opera Mini being sent to Apple for approval. I also had a post in the works for how Opera Mini was still not released to the App Store.

However, in a turn of events, it seems Apple have approve Opera Mini for inclusion in the App Store after 20 days, 8 hours and 31 minutes (to be unnecessarily precise). This count is was available on Opera Mini’s website ever since it was sent to Apple for approval. Although not an iPhone user myself, I know several people who will be relieved to have additional browser choice beyond the default Safari web browser which is built-in.

One of its best features being the automatic reformatting of text columns in websites so they fit on your phone’s screen regardless of its orientation. This makes reading on it fantastic, as scrolling left and right continually is just not required, as it so commonly is with the N97′s built in web browser.

Anyway, it turns out the iPhone is getting the Opera Mini goodness shortly.

Well, that is the optimisitic view point at least. Opera have submitted the browser to the Apple App Store and are now just awaiting confirmation that the App will go live. They have even put up a counter stating the amount of “Time since Opera Mini was submitted”. As of typing this, the counter currently stands at just over ten hours.

Apparently, whoever guesses closest to the time at which Opera Mini goes live can win a new iPhone. Interesting. It seems to me that Opera Mini breaches Apple’s own terms which state that submitted applications should not duplicate existing or ‘built in’ iPhone functionality… such as web browsing, which Safari already does.

“Your move Apple” says an article on Mashable, and rightly so. Let’s hope their move is the right one for their users – choice.

What do you think? Is this counter the real deal or merely a marketing ploy and a bit of a stab at Apple? Will Opera Mini really get accepted to the App store?