A handful of web browsers are now available in the App Store. While none of them offer the full feature set that Safari on the iPhone already does, each offers something different to streamline or focus the browsing experience. For example, QuickSurf specifically avoids downloading images on web pages to speed up browsing and/or decrease the amount of data used, and WebMate is a tabbed browser that queues up clicked links so you can view them later without leaving the current web page.

Apple had initially stated that applications that duplicated existing functionality of the iPhone would not be approved, but the release of these browsers indicates that this policy has changed. Hopefully, this opens the way for other applications that can offer true alternatives to out-of-the-box applications or enhance existing functionality even more.

Macrumors