OPERA BROWSER GETS AN OVER-17 RATING IN APP STORE; RESPONDS HUMUOROUSLY

You might not yet be aware of this, but Apple's policy towards web browsers is to treat the entire internet as their content. As a result, all browsers on the iOS App Store come with a minimum age requirement of 17 and the same rule will apply to them on the Mac App Store. Opera, the first non-native web explorer to make it in Apple's new desktop app repository is taking a humorous approach to things, with VP Jan Standal saying he's "not sure if, at that age, people are ready to use such an application. It's very fast, you know, and it has a lot of features."

All that said, Opera's willing to be reckless if you are, and will totally let you download its Mac software through its homepage -- no age or credit card checks required, though you might want to ask for your parents' permission first.

CONSUMER REPORTS RANKS AT&T LAST IN MOBILE PROVIDERS

Once again AT&T has found itself dead last in a survey of mobile providers. The latest survey, by Consumer Reports, ranks US Cellular and Verizon Wireless as number one and two respectively, followed by T-Mobile and Sprint, leaving AT&T to bring up the rear.

The survey ranked a number of factors including Value, Texting, Voice, Data, Website and Staff Knowledge. AT&T never even made an average rating any of the items examined, receiving a Worse rating in 8 out of all 9 categories.

AT&T responded with a statement:

We take this seriously and we continually look for new ways to improve the customer experience. The fact is wireless customers have choices and a record number of them chose AT&T in the third quarter, significantly more than our competitors. Hard data from independent drive tests confirms AT&T has the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network with our nearest competitor 20 percent slower on average nationwide and our largest competitor 60 percent slower on average nationwide. And, our dropped call rate is within 1/10 of a percent – the equivalent of just one call in a thousand – of the industry leader.

Readers were asked to grade each carrier on several criteria including value, voice service quality, data service quality and customer support. The ratings were on a scale of “Worse” to “Better,” with three increments in between. [BGR]