The "jig browser" optimizes PC websites for viewing on the mobile device

Jun 13, 2007 14:00 GMT  ·  By

Japanese company jig.jp announced that it will make a new version of its "jig browser" available on the global market this summer.

Released in October 2004 in Japan, the "jig browser" was the first Internet browser that allowed the viewing of websites meant to be visualized on a PC, on Java-enabled phones. The browser optimizes the websites so that they can be correctly displayed on the smaller screen of mobile devices.

The "jig browser" enjoyed great popularity in Japan, where it has been downloaded more than 730,000 times since its launch. "Growth in the mobile phone content market has been very strong in Japan. The jig browser has been downloaded more than 730,000 times since the service was first offered in Japan. We are certain that mobile phone users in the rest of the world will also enjoy using the jig browser," said Taisuke Fukuno, CEO of jig.jp.

Some of the browser's notable features include support for plugins, tabbed browsing, several display modes and rapid scrolling in any direction. The application can be customized by adding "jiglets" plugins, which are applications specifically developed for the "jig browser". Jiglets can cover a wide range of functionality, ranging from mailers, schedulers, RSS readers to various browser customizations. In the future, users will be able to create their own jiglets and the "jig browser" will be continuously updated with new content and services, that will be made available for free to registered users.

jig.jp announced that the version for overseas 3G networks has been completed, and it will go on sale outside of Japan starting this summer. In advance of the official release, jig.jp is offering for a limited time a preview version of the "jig browser", available at no cost. The demo of the application requires the Java MIDP 2.0 environment and a screen resolution of 240x320 pixels or greater, and can be downloaded here.