Opera aims for Android, hardware acceleration

From CNET News.com: Opera Software announced significant new steps for its browsers today, including the release soon of Opera Mobile for Android phones and extensions technology in the upcoming Opera 11 for computers.

In both those cases--and also in the Opera Mini browser for less capable phones--the browsers will come with a major new feature: hardware acceleration to speed the display of pages and operations such as scrolling and panning. That change is essential to keep Opera relevant in a highly competitive industry.

Android is aligned well with Opera's business strategy. First, Google's mobile operating system, unlike Apple's iOS, is open to other browsers. It's spreading from the high-end smartphone area to more affordable, mainstream models where Opera is strong today. And Android can be customized to the tastes of hardware makers or carriers, many of whom today have partnerships with Opera.

But so far the company has offered only Opera Mini for Android, a browser that relies on an Opera server to translate pages into a stripped-down form. New smartphones promise a richer view of the Web, though, Mozilla's Firefox is arriving alongside the built-in browser Google provides.

"Opera Mobile for Android is the real McCoy. It's the full Web browser on the phone," Opera Chief Development Officer Christen Krogh said at a press conference here. The software should arrive on the Android Market within 30 days, and perhaps within October.

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