Opera has released a beta for its Opera Mini web browser currently at version 4.2. The mobile web browsing solution has been at the center of hot debates recently, with Opera's CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner reportedly saying that “Opera’s engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone.”

New additions in Opera Mini 4.2 include a selection of colored skins that can be applied to the browser, improved support for YouTube and improvements to Opera Link. The last one now allows users to share notes between their mobile phones and PC, as well as their bookmarks and recently-visited websites, according to the team of developers.

"We constantly focus on developing a faster and more personal browsing experience. Opera Mini 4.2 beta is an update that takes mobile Web browsing to the next level," said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera.

"The number of people using Opera Mini worldwide proves that there is a true revolution going on: people want to access all their favorite websites on the mobile phone they have today," said von Tetzchner. "We constantly focus on developing a faster and more personal browsing experience. Opera Mini 4.2 beta is an update that takes mobile web browsing to the next level."

With Opera Mini touted as the biggest mobile web browser in the world - with more than 20 million unique monthly users, one can't help but wonder how many iPhone users want the browser on their respective handsets.

As noted above, Opera's CEO was cited two weeks ago as saying that his engineers had an iPhone-ready version of Opera Mini, yet Apple was holding back from approving the browser's presence in the App Store. The reasons were that Opera was competing directly with Apple's own Safari web browser. Apple's record of denying app after app in the venue could only attract more user dissatisfaction, following these reports, as also noted by one of our readers recently.

“I love my iPhone, and my ipod and my imac. I think the built in safari browser on iphone and mac are perfectly adequate for my needs, but I believe it's really bad that apple are dictating what software we can and can't run on our phones,” Greg Edwards writes. “There's no such clause for which browser I choose to use on my desktop, why should my handheld be any different.”

However, further research conducted by John Gruber revealed that the Opera team seemingly hadn't even submitted the web browser to Apple for approval. Whether this is true or not, iPhone users surely wouldn't mind having the software on their devices, considering the improvements brought to Opera Mini with each release.

How do you feel about it?