Opera enters belly of the Valley

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 23 October 2007 16:42

Your IT - Home IT

Norway's Opera Software, intends to build on the market niche it has carved for its increasingly popular Web browser by setting up an office in the heart of Silicon Valley. Opera's new Mountain View office puts the company in close proximity to some the most important global Web players, including Google and Yahoo.

Although Opera has had only limited success in the desktop and notebook computing space, with an estimated modest 1% market share, its speed and compact code have made it popular among players in the portable browser space, such as Nintendo, Samsung and Motorola.

Oslo-based Opera scored a big win when it was chosen as the browser for Nintendo's trail blazing new gaming console the Wii, which has sold 12 million consoles worldwide since it was released 11 months ago. The company has now positioned its product as the browser of choice for portable applications.

Opera sees the convergence of Web services among various device types as an opportunity and intends to further its cooperation with US operators and device manufacturers to provide an advanced mobile Web-browsing experience to the American market.

Current Opera partners and customers include Google, Yahoo!, Adobe, Motorola, Palm, Nintendo of America, and Qualcomm, among others. Its browser-based products include the Opera browser for all major desktop platforms, Opera Mobile, Opera Mini, Opera for Wii and Opera Widgets.
 
"In 1999, Opera created the market for accessing the Web on any device. Today, the industry and consumers are realizing the value of using the same services wherever they are," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "Our presence in Silicon Valley will allow our business relationships and Web development initiatives to deepen with closer collaboration."