Mac App Store pins silly 17+ rating on Opera browser

Opera, the least popular of the full Web browsers, became the first non-native browser to be included in Apple's Mac App Store on Thursday. But as per Apple's tradition with rating browsers, it has been slapped with a 17+ rating.

To download Opera from the Mac App Store, users will be prompted to verify that he or she is at least 17 years old.

"I'm very concerned," Jan Standal, vice president of Desktop Products for Opera Software, joked in a statement. "Seventeen is very young, and I am 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. I think the download requirement should be at least 18."

When it comes to rating browsers, Apple treats the entire Internet as its content and thus always gives the highest rating to browsers, as apps in the App Store demonstrate.

 

According to Apple's app rating system, an app with the 17+ rating "may also contain frequent and intense mature, horror, and suggestive themes; plus strong sexual content, nudity, strong language, alcohol, tobacco, and drugs which may not be suitable for children under the age of 17."

For underaged folks who can't wait to "legally" download Opera onto their computers, Standal suggested getting it directly from opera.com. "We do not ask for your age or your credit card number. Please, get your parents' permission before using this browser," he joked.

Although Opera only commands around two percent of the browser market, PCMag software analyst Michael Muchmore said it delivers the "most innovations." See his review of Opera 11, which was released in December.

Two weeks ago, Opera announced pinch-to-zoom Opera Mini apps for Apple iPad, iPhone and Android phones.

This article, written by Sara Yin, originally appeared on PCMag.com and is republished on Gear Live with the permission of Ziff Davis, Inc..