Last week a lot of revelations were made indicating that Apple had barred the Opera browser from the iPhone. Reports explained Apple blocked the browser company Opera from distributing a mobile version of its browser, Opera Mini, to iPhone users because it competes with Apple’s own Safari browser. It appeared to many Apple was again restricting useful applications from iPhone users—something it has been accused of doing in the past.

However, this doesn’t appear to be the case. I caught up with Tor Odland, Director of Corporate Communications at Opera, who says earlier reports overstate the situation. In fact Odland says, “Opera has not yet submitted a version of Opera Mini to Apple’s App Store, but may do so in the future.”

Today’s comments from Odland contradict Opera CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner who was paraphrased in a New York Times blog post saying, “Apple won’t let the company release it [Opera Mini for iPhone] because it competes with Apple’s own Safari browser.”

The Apple of discord

Mr. Odland confirmed “Opera has developed an initial version of Opera Mini for the iPhone platform.”

“We’re confident that many users would consider giving Opera Mini a spin on the iPhone, due to the browser’s speed,” he added.

In addition, Haavard, an Opera employee, posts in a blog post last week that it’s “not sure if we’ve ever confirmed that we actually had Opera Mini ready for the iPhone.”

It seemed unrealistic for Apple to block such a high profile company from having an application on the iPhone, but it appears to have been an Opera publicity stunt rather than yet another anticompetitive scandal for Apple.

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