Mozilla submits Firefox Home to Apple App Store, considers approval a formality (video)
By Vlad Savov 
posted July 1st 2010 2:23AM
posted July 1st 2010 2:23AM
posted July 1st 2010 2:23AM
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Come'on Apple this is Mozilla, they're nonprofit & they're no threat to you. Let them in your walled garden.
@Son Goku Right. just that they make a huge pile of cash (to pay their fulltime employees and bills and whatnot) from working together with google.
Jobs hates google, remember?
I would rather see Firefox on the iPhone
If it doesn't get approved it's only gonna exacerbate the PR nightmare Apple is going thru right now, especially after Steve's "we approve 95% of apps, the only ones that don't make it are ones that don't work as advertised or crash the phone" speech. So yeah, it'll get approved. I'd like one for Android please Mozilla :)
Next we will need Internet Explorer Mobile... for the iPhone!
I'm amazed, Apple practically makes you beg them just for the chance to get your app on people's phones.
And developers still rush and throw themselves at Job's feet.
PS: oh and don't tell me it's to protect the customers, I don't see any harm in having additional browsers, increasing choice.
Not to the customers anyway; maybe to Apple if they are trying to pull some kind of vendor lock-in trick.
@PinchofSalt
You're a moron. You know they have 100m iOS devices right? Of course devs are desperately trying to get on board.
@PinchofSalt
When you say that browser should get a free pass do you realize that Internet Explorer was responsible for the vast majority of the billion Dollar virus damages thw world has suffered over the last 15 years? If there's anything Apple should have a close lit on it's browsers.
@Wesscoast
There are over a quarter million symbian devices and I've yet to see a line. What's your point?
@abugida
Please, even if Firefox is perfect, it will never get through, that's why they created this gimped version.
It's right there in Apple's T&S for apps. Can't duplicate functionality.
Why not?!? Competition is good for the consumer, unless someone here doesn't want any competition ...
@Wesscoast
Ya, and buy making apps for it, you further help increase it's dominance.
It's like someone stabbing you with a knife repeatedly, and yet you continue to help him sharpen it when he feels it's starting to dull.
At the end of the day, when iOS becomes the most dominant platform, and you simply cannot afford to not develop for it (IMO it's more or less already at that stage), you will be stuck developing for it with Steve Jobs practically breathing down your neck.
Jobs can right now, just reject your app, destroying your investment(time and money) in creating said app, and there is nothing you can do about it.
@PinchofSalt
*by
Syncs bookmarks, good luck with that as I have a directory I just open up and click to go where I want to go. Been collecting links since probably 96 this way. Who sticks them in the browser anyways to save them?
The problem with other browsers than safari on the iPhone is that there is no way to set them as default, which sucks totally. If you click a link from any app that opens up a browser... guess what happens... it fires up Safari.
Anyway I hope it is better than Opera (which is just a fast Image viewer, not a browser). Until now there isn't anything better than safari for the iPhone.
Maybe Apple are allowing rival browsers onto iOS in order to head-off potential anti-trust investigations...
@Optimaximal
Apple have allowed rival browsers since July 2008, as long as they use WebKit as their rendering engine. No different with Firefox Home. Opera Mini is a special case as it renders on Opera's servers, not on the device.
@abugida
As long as they use the EXISTING webkit version on the iPhone. (i.e. Apple's version of webkit)
Which is not the same than using whatever implementation of webkit you want, which kind of is the WHOLE purpose of using an open source rendering engine (webkit)...
But Apple hasn't really been into the whole conceptual philosophy of open source. More on the take the code make billions out of nice packaging and give nothing.
Ah the blessed times when Apple was Wozniak and Jobs was doing his crap on his own drowning in his self-centeredness...
But, does it have adblock!
;)
My predictions: This app will be number one on the App Store for a few weeks. This will prompt some pundits to claim that iPhone users are desperate for choice and Apple is making a huge mistake etc. In the review section of the app, some reviewers will say that it's faster than Safari.
i'm sure you'll get approved . i mean they already spent 12 bucks on the first ad.
Unless google makes a browser (chrome) for the iPhone I will stick with safari, any other browser out there doesn't feel right. At least for me.
@kevino025 except integration other apps can't provide, i doubt there is any diff between them and safari.
when they say they have to use the webkit engine it's a bit misleading.
they have to use the VERY webkit that is on the iphone and used by safari, not a variation.
for this reason, you're not seeing a "chrome" for iphone. it would also just be safari, with a different URL input bar :P (since chrome does not bring any other feature than it's webkit and javascript engine basically - extensions apply to the engine, and most skinnable and bookmark management features aren't exactly strong points)
@zob then, i guess i will stick with safari, thanks for your info my friend
Wow, this app seems almost useless, I wish they would create an iPhone firefox browser instead of this sync center crap
@toaster99
They cannot.
Apple refused it.
Again Thanks for the unbiased report Engadget...
Mozilla provides only "a weird sort of incomplete browser" to the iPhone because when they started coding a complete browser Apple said No No No...
BTW : this "incomplete" browser has some very nice features safari lacks totally. And it's free... but you know it's not like it's relevant or anything.
I sure as hell hope Apple doesn't reject this one!
Probably want to make sure you are running ios4 to kill this thing because Firefox is a memory pig on the PC.
@TechBlogger
Chrome's worse.
I think it is interesting how Microsoft wen through all these lawsuits, both domestically and abroad for anti-trust issues with tightly bundling IE with their operating system. But when a phone does it, it is OK. =)
Need to see for myself...
Still not approved....