Opera to announce deals with US wireless carriers?

By on Mar 21, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Software March 21, 2009

Forbes is reporting that Opera is bypassing handset manufacturers and striking deals with US wireless carriers in an attempt to further the distribution of its popular mobile web browser. Opera currently has agreements with European carriers Vodafone and T-Mobile that places the Opera browser on the carrier’s mobile phones. A loose-lipped Opera spokesman revealed that Opera will also be announcing several US carrier deals at the upcoming CTIA Wireless conference in early April. The spokesperson declined to identify the carriers but the US only has 4 major carriers so you can take your pick. Regardless or which carriers will be scoring Opera Mobile come April, this will be a big step for both Opera and feature phone customers whose browsing experiences are about to get a boost.

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22 Comments

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  • daniel

    First

  • cjM

    hopefully one is verizon

  • EPS

    Hm- well, Vodafone and T-Mobile have close ties with a certain two US carriers, so that would seem most likely… (Especially in the case of T-Mobile, less so Verizon since that’s only a minority stake, but Vodafone and VZW have acted in concert before…)

  • http://stateofqatar.blogspot.com thomaso

    I coulda swore my friend’s Samsung from Verizon had Opera installed.

  • Kip

    Sprint doesn’t block any downloads so it doesn’t matter to me. Verizon’s dump phone browsers suck but almost no one who has one wants it anyways.

  • natsfan7

    Please be Verizon….I really want something better than the BB browser, cause, you know, it sucks.

  • L4M3

    hopefully metropcs…great internet plan, horrible browser =[

  • rctennis

    Opera can already be installed on every phone in AT&T’s lineup, so I wouldn’t be surprised if AT&T was one of the carriers to be announced. T-Mobile, however, seems to have blocked Opera on the Memoir and Behold….sooo….hmm.

  • gquaglia

    Still no competition to mobile Safari.

  • Don Louie

    But can mobile safari be downloaded on anything other than the fruitphone?

  • Shawn t

    How bout those bb’s bgr! Still waiting on the contest

  • Mike M.

    @ Don Louie

    Of course it can’t. Apple and Apple alone holds the right to allow any other carrier or handset manufacturer the use of Mobile Safari. And i’m pretty sure they’re not about to do that ! Mobile Safari is only available on the iPhone, and I believe they intend to keep it that way for quite some time.

  • Mike W

    The iPhone Safari is just based on WebKit which is what Android and Pre’s are built off of. Apple didn’t build it from the ground up.

  • http://home/ baaadandy

    This will likely be Sprint and/or AT&T. IIRC Verizon recently announced they were going to dump Openwave and go with Novarra (sp?) for their dumbphone browser. I remember having Novarra on an Amp’d Mobile phone. It was actually pretty decent.

  • blah

    I wouldn’t count out NetFront 3.5… not a big fan of Opera

  • Orga

    If VZW goes with Opera Mobile/Mini (probably Mini) for their feature dumbphones, I can’t really think of a whole lot more that I’d need a smartphone for.

    QWERTY featurephone with a halfway-decent touchscreen and a browser actually worth something? Yes please.

  • blur(p)s

    I LOOVE Opera. OTher than Skyfire, it’s by far one of the best mobile browsers I’ve used. Though I admit I haven’t tried the Mozilla mobile browser.

  • Don Louie

    phonescoop is reporting Opera signed a deal w/Virgin U.S., who next in line. Hopefully a national postpay

  • backbeat

    ^TRANSLATION: “I’m just posting random shit about the nasty secondary market to entertain myself”.
    :)

  • Don Louie

    I’m posting related news in a related topic, waiting on bgr to update stuff is sometimes not that timely.

  • backbeat

    ^When did you get appointed to the Editorial Board?
    :)

  • Don Louie

    Opera will increase it’s marketshare w/these moves and become more commonplace and get it in the hands of those that aren’t familiar

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