Opera To Announce Deal With Major U.S. CarrierOpera To Announce Deal With Major U.S. Carrier

Opera Software is poised to strike a major deal to get its browser on a major U.S. carrier, according to CEO Jon von Tetzchner.

Opera's chief executive, in a published report, said the deal should be announced within the next two weeks, and it will lead to the Opera Mini browser being preloaded on multiple handsets. The deal will be facilitated with partner Motricity, and the final products may not have the Opera branding.

Opera Mini is the most popular third-party mobile browser in the world, with more than 20 million users. The browser is designed to run on entry-level devices as well as smartphones like BlackBerry devices, and the Java ME-based browser works by rendering pages on a server and then sending it to the device. Opera said this server-side technology means users can surf the Web comfortably without placing strong connectivity demands on the network or the handset.

The potential deal should boost Opera's amount of subscribers, as mobile users are far more likely to use the preloaded browser than a third-party one. The company already has deals with Virgin Mobile and Sprint Nextel, but von Tetzchner indicated the upcoming deal will be larger than those two agreements.

The move comes as the market for third-party browsers is growing as more and more customers surf the Web from their phone. Mozilla is preparing to bring a version of Firefox to cell phones and smartphones, and its Fennec browser will have strong JavaScript support, the Awesome Bar, and support for extensions. Startup Skyfire has also drawn some attention with its browser which enables mobile users to access and interact with Web sites built with Flash, JavaScript, Silverlight, and other rich Web technologies.

With strong browsers such as Fennec, smartphones could eventually replace your laptop as a mobile computing device. information analyzed how handhelds are becoming over-the-air portals for enterprise apps, and the report can be downloaded here (registration required).