The latest nightly build of WebKit now includes support for CSS animations. WebKit is the rendering engine used by many browsers, including Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome browser.

Dean Jacksons explains the benefits of CSS animations:

CSS Animations is one of the enhancements to CSS proposed by the WebKit project that we’ve been calling CSS Effects (eg. gradients, masks, transitions). The goal is to provide properties that allow Web developers to create graphically rich content. In many cases animations are presentational, and therefore belong in the styling system. This allows developers to write declarative rules for animations, replacing lots of hard-to-maintain animation code in JavaScript.

The new effects are already implemented in the iPhone and iPod touch browsers, and should make their way in to releases of Safari and Chrome shortly. In the mean time, you can test the new CSS animations by downloding the latest nightly release of WebKit.

Apple has begun approving 3rd party web browsers for the iPhone and iPod touch. The move comes after speculation that Apple was denying apps that competed with it’s own.

It is hoped that this move could allow Opera Mobile to make finally make debut on the iPhone. Current web browser apps include Edge Browser, Incognito, Shaking Web and WebMate: Tabbed Browser.

There are fears Apple’s restrictive SDK may still hold back a fully featured version of Opera Mobile.

With the recent relaxation of approval rules, there are still hopes yet for a good range of web browsers on Apple mobile devices. The future is starting to look a little brighter.

With 2009 fast approaching, details for IE Mobile 6 have started to appear. The latest mobile Internet browser from Microsoft should bring a positive change to the web browser market.

Currently, there are still no screenshots available, as Microsoft has made all beta testers and OEM’s sign NDA’s, but details on the new browser are starting to emerge. Here are some of the key features for IE Mobile 6.

• A full HTML rendering engine (unfortunately based on IE6).
• Support for Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, something still not found on Apple’s iPhone.
• AJAX and JScript 5.7 support.
• Support for touch, including scrolling and zooming.
• Ability to switch between full and mobile versions of websites.

With these unique, and some innovative features, IE Mobile 6 may make up some ground in the mobile browser market, but is it enough to entice Opera Mobile or even iPhone Safari users?

EMG Technology is suing Apple over an alleged patent infringement in its mobile version of Safari.

EMG is seeking an unspecified amount in damages, claiming the “simplified interface of reformatted mobile content to provide optimum viewing and navigation with single touches on a small screen” as a reason for the suit.

Patent 7,441,196 was issued in October this year, after being filled back in November 1999. The patent covers the resizing of content and data on mobile screens, along with navigation and scrolling methods.

EMG has not offered Apple the chance to licence the technology and currently has no plans to go after other smartphone makers.

Apple will not comment on the matter.

It looks like we won’t see a browser war for the iPhone just yet, with Apple refusing to let Opera Mini be released for the iPhone.

Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, Opera’s co-founder and chief executive said that “Opera’s engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple won’t let the company release it because it competes with Apple’s own Safari browser.”

Opera Mini is currently available for free for many other phones available today.