Opera Goes 'Mini' for Mobile Phones

Opera Software on Wednesday introduced a version of its popular Web browser for Java-enabled mobile phones. Opera Mini serves as an alternative to Opera's current mobile browser, and is designed to allow users to access the Web on phones normally incapable of running a browser.

To keep memory usage down, Opera Mini will utilize a remote proxy that pre-processes a Web page before sending it to the phone. The browser can be installed using an SMS message or by clicking a link via a WAP browser. "With Opera Mini, the phone only has to run a small Java-client and the rest is taken care of by the remotely located Opera Mini server," said Opera CEO Jon S. von Tetzchner.