SkyFire For iPad Goes Gold, Gets Shipped Off For Apple's Approval

Just a few weeks back, SkyFire (a browser most known for its ability to play Flash videos on handsets that otherwise couldn’t) came along and turned the App Store upside down. In its first three days alone, it managed to pull down over $1 million in sales — and that’s without any sort of offering for iPad users.

Well, iPad users, SkyFire is coming your way soon. How soon? As soon as Apple says it’s okay.

This morning, SkyFire labs announced that the first build of their iPad app is complete, packed up, and in Apple’s hands.

While the main selling point is obviously the Flash Video playback (made possible by first converting those Flash videos into an HTML5-friendly, and thus iPhone friendly, format), the iPad port packs a few features that the iPhone version doesn’t. Most of’em we saw first on SkyFire 3.0 for Android back in late November.

· Facebook and Twitter QuickView – Facebook and Twitter quick view give you one touch access to your news feed, profile, friends, inbox, events and places.

· FireplaceTM Feed Reader – A simple but addictive tool that provides a filtered list of your Facebook feed that only includes links to browsable web pages, images, and videos posted by your Facebook friends.

· Popular Content – You just finished reading a story on one of your favorite web sites and want to quickly decide what to read next. Click on the Popular button on the SkybarTM and instantly see what content on the site is most popular with your friends and within the 500+ million user Facebook community.

· Google Reader – Like Facebook Quickview, Google Reader keeps you logged into Google with one-touch access to Gmail, Buzz, and RSS

· Facebook Like Button – Skyfire 3.0 puts the Facebook Like Button on every page of the Internet. No scrolling around searching for the button on the page, simply click on the SkybarTM Like Button to easily ‘like’ or ‘unlike’ the page you are viewing or to share
the page with your friends via Facebook, Twitter, or email.

I was dubious of all these built-in social networking features then, and I still am now. I don’t want Facebook, or Twitter, or any other social network to be a part of the core browsing experience — and judging by the comments on that SkyFire 3.0 post, most would agree. Fortunately, you don’t have to plug in any social network credentials to use the browser.

No word yet on pricing, though we’ve asked the company for clarification on that point. SkyFire was generally a free browser until its iPhone debut, where it launched at $2.99. I’d expect the iPad app to go for at least that much — and given the nature of the iPad economy, perhaps even 2x as much.

[Update: Pricing is still to be determined, but we’re being told that the company is currently pinning it at $4.99]


Greg Kumparak is the Editor of MobileCrunch.com. Need to shout at him? Put greg in front of @crunchgear.com. Follow him on Twitter here for good fortune and luck in life (results may vary.)