Symbian enhances wireless Internet offering with Opera

Symbian signs agreement to incorporate Opera browser in reference designs for communicators

London, UK - May 29, 2001 - Symbian and Opera Software today announced an agreement to include Opera as the default browser in Symbian's reference designs for communicator devices.

Symbian
"We're moving into a market where for millions of users their first experience of accessing the Internet will be from a mobile device. To offer mobile users a compelling multimedia experience we've been evaluating a number of browsers to complement the Symbian OS," said Mark Edwards, EVP Sales & Marketing, Symbian."Opera Software offers the most advanced specifications and features available in the market today. With this agreement Symbian and Opera will ensure that future browsing requirements will be easily and seamlessly incorporated into the Symbian OS."

Symbian's reference designs for communicators enable a wide range of pen- and keyboard-based devices to be developed by its licensees, combining voice and data communications with powerful Internet and data capabilities - the first one scheduled to ship being the Nokia 9210 Communicator which will be available in H1, 2001.

Opera Software
"This is a great achievement for Opera, affirming us as the browser of choice and technology leader for the mobile Internet device market," says Rolf Assev, EVP, Opera Software. "Symbian's communicator devices will offer an Internet experience unrivalled in pocket-sized devices. For many years Opera Software have developed and refined a browser technology that caters to these devices' limited screen space and resources."

Opera version 5 for Symbian includes the following technologies: JavaScript support for JavaScript objects and form controls; ECMAScript regexp object; support for HTML event handlers; and the SSL handling of certificates, FTP, 128-bit encryption, SSL 2 and 3, TLS 1.0, CSS1 and CSS2, XML, HTML 4.01, HTTP 1.1, ECMAScript version 3, and JavaScript 1.4.

About Symbian

Symbian was set up by leading handset and mobile computing manufacturers - Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic and Psion - to provide a common, open operating system for mobile phones and enable a mass market of content, services and applications based around data and voice enabled mobile phones. Companies currently developing Symbian OS based devices include Ericsson, Kenwood, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Psion, Sanyo, Siemens and Sony.

About Opera Software

Opera Software AS is an industry leader in the development of web browsers for the desktop and device markets. The Opera browser has received international recognition from end-users and the industry press for being faster, smaller and more standards-compliant than other browsers. Opera Software AS is a privately held company headquartered in Oslo, Norway. 

 

Symbian, the Symbian OS and other Symbian related marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symbian Ltd. All other products and services mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Media Enquiries

Press/Analyst contacts Symbian press@symbian.com

Pal A. Hvistendahl Communications Manager Opera Software +47 99 72 4331 pal@opera.com