Mozilla unveils prototype iPad browser to challenge Safari

Gone may be the days when Apple's Safari stood tall as the dominant mobile browser on the iOS platform.

Google had recently announced plans to launch a Chrome app for both the iPhone and the iPad, and just four short weeks later, the brass at Mozilla have made plans to crash the party.

The company that brought you Firefox is working on a mobile browser for the iPad but rather than build on what they've got, Mozilla will be creating something entirely new. The Product Design Strategy team calls it "Junior," a mobile browser prototype that was unveiled in a video conference last week.

"It's one of the simplest iPad browsers around, occupying the iPad's entire canvas and including just a couple of buttons on either side of the screen: a back button and a plus symbol that lets you access bookmarks, recent pages and a URL/search bar," reveals Jose Vilches in a TechSpot report.

As shown in the video, common features such as print, forward and reload are hidden but users can access these options by using finger gestures to expand the two main buttons — TechSpot notes that Mozilla initially toyed with the idea of rendering all controls gesture-based.

"Junior" is still in the early stages, and though the video failed to provide a concrete release date, Mozilla's Alex Limi explains the company's desire to get into the mobile game.

"There are a lot of reasons we should be on iOS even though we can't bring our rendering engine there," shared Limi, noting that the company currently has "no vehicle on one of the biggest consumer platforms in the world."

In the meantime, iPad users will have to live with what Limi calls the "miserable experience" of Safari. But if that's an intolerable option, you're encouraged to check out Dolphin, Atomic and Opera Mini.