14 DAY TRIAL // Opera is expected to soon announce to the world a US carrier deal that was speculated to become public at the CTIA Wireless conference this year. The company's chief executive confirmed recently the fact that the Opera Mini browser would soon become widely available on the United States market due to its presence on a large number of mobile phones.
“We are working ... to provide an Opera Mini-based solution with a major operator in the U.S.,” is what Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner stated in a recent interview. It seems that it won't be too long before the browser will become available in the US market via the large carrier deal that has been rumored before.
As many of you might already know, Opera already announced deals for the distribution of its Opera Mini browser through handsets from Virgin Mobile. At the same time, the application also comes with a mobile phone from Sprint, yet this is not what industry watchers and analysts expect from the software company, especially due to the fact that the browser is already highly appreciated in Europe and Asia.
According to Opera spokesman Ted Miller, the new deal, which should be announced in the following few weeks, might come under a different branding than Opera's, although the Opera Mini is at the core of it. Moreover, it seems that the deal will also be facilitated by a partnership with Motricity, the company that delivers a platform to provide mobile content on devices for carriers like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile in the U.S.
Through the new deal, the Opera Mini browser will come pre-loaded on handsets, something that will offer it a wider distribution than previously announced partnerships with Virgin Mobile and Sprint. According to Tetzchner, the company is working on bringing its browser on the US market not only on mobile phones, but on other devices as well, including television or set-top boxes. “I do believe things are about to change in the U.S.,” he added.