Opera is showing their Mini browser for iPhone at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2010 in Barcelona. According to Opera the Mini browser is 6 times faster than Safari on iPhone and it uses Opera’s unique compression and server-side technology. Opera’s system works by sending the URL you typed in the browser to Opera servers, rather than to the website itself. The Opera server then downloads the page you requested, compresses it into Opera Binary Markup Language (OBML), which decreases the size of the webpage by up to 90 percent. The OBML page is then sent to your browser. Where it loads faster because it’s smaller than the original webpage.

Opera hasn’t show side-by-side comparison of the Mini browser and Apple’s Safari browser, but their claims can be true for static website. And might cause problems for dynamic website with content like streaming video. The Opera Mini browser is still in beta testing and the company plans to submit it to Apple for approval as soon as it comes out of beta testing.

After seeing Opera Mini demo on iPhone, Michael Conroy of Wired wrote “Scrolling through webpages is silky smooth, with nary a glitch or stutter regardless of the size of the page. The interface is instantaneously responsive as well, just as you’d expect from the iPhone. However, those expecting a tightly integrated browsing experience will be disappointed.”