On Thursday, three days subsequent to its late Monday launch, Opera Software announced that its server-aided Opera Mini browser for the iPhone touched more than a million downloads the very first day of its extensive availability ( i. e., Tuesday).

According to Apple's end-of-day download count, that’s 1,023,380 downloads to be exact.

However, to get consent from Apple, Opera Mini could not be a real browser since Apple's developer contract prohibits other JavaScript engines, and perhaps Web rendering engines, from being released for the iPhone.

But as Daring Fireball's John Gruber indicated, Opera Mini doesn't really make Web pages. It gives a condensed markup language known as OBML, making Opera Mini more like a PDF reader rather than a Web browser.

According to Lars Boilesen, Chief Executive of Opera, said nevertheless, iPhone consumers now "have a choice, and, as the numbers show, they are eager to explore new and faster ways to surf the Web on the iPhone - especially during heavy Web traffic".

Opera went on in a press release to brag that Opera Mini 5 for iPhone at present, is the top iPhone app in 22 Apple stores as of 8 a. m. CET, together with the U. S., Japan, Spain, Indonesia, and Germany.