Vodafone and Opera have signed a deal to create a custom-made version of Opera Mini for low and mid priced handsets. The new browser will aim to provide reliable, high speed mobile Internet access even in low coverage areas.
The new version of Opera Mini will be available to Vodafone customers in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and will run on low cost Java-enabled mobile handsets. Vodafone claims its customers will get a full web-browsing service on Java mobile phones. The service will pre-compress web pages by up to 90 per cent, so that browsing will still be fast under low network speeds.
In early trials in Vodafone Egypt, more than 400,000 customers downloaded the product in a month.
There’s few details on availability yet, but selected Vodafone operating companies will be able to pre-embed the new browser on Java-based handsets, or encourage customers to download it themselves.
From the release:
“We are confident that the agreement with Opera Software will help to ensure that customers will be able to enjoy an even more fulfilling mobile internet experience on their handsets” said Pieter Knook, Vodafone Internet Services Director.
“The agreement between Vodafone and Opera empowers more people around the world to benefit from a fast and user-friendly mobile internet experience,” said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software.
What we think?
There was no mention made of pricing for this product on the release but given the markets it’s aimed at, and the fact that it ship pre-loaded on certain handsets, I can only imagine it’ll be free. It’s good to see Vodafone and Opera really trying to get as many people on the mobile web as possible in markets like Africa and the Middle East. Since the majority of internet users in these areas can only connect via a mobile device, enabling as many of them to surf as possible is only going to boost numbers. Especially if those numbers from Egypt are anything to go by. And once people are on board, there’s huge potential for monetisation.
