In a strange PR move, Opera Software pre-announced its news for CTIA today, even though the show doesn’t kick off until next week. The company said it will be launching Opera Mobile 9.7, a browser for smartphones and other devices that makes loading full Internet sites faster and easier. But what we are more excited to hear about at CTIA is whether the company has signed a deal with a U.S. carrier. If such a deal exists, it would be the company’s first entrance into the U.S. through a carrier partnership, meaning that they would pay Opera to embed the company’s browser on most of their phones. The deal is important if the company is serious about competing on a global basis since most of its success has centered around Europe to date. A spokeswoman would not say whether another announcement was coming at CTIA.
In previous conversations with the company, it said that it intends to take the U.S. market seriously, and is using CTIA to make a big splash. The company said it will announce a partnership with a U.S. carrier and launch a U.S. advertising campaign aimed at end-users. Last week, Forbes also reported that Opera Software (OSL: OPERA) said it plans “to announce some big operator deals at the CTIA Wireless trade show in early April.” The report didn’t any more specific than that, but typically Opera works with tier-one carriers, such as Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) and T-Mobile in Europe.
In today’s announcement about Opera Mobile 9.7, the company said the browser technology will include Opera Turbo, which “can help carriers reduce network congestion while helping mobile device manufacturers bring increased speed and a more rich Web browsing experience to their customer and users.” Release. The company also announced today that it is partnering with Skyhook Wireless to add location-based services to its browsers. Through this partnership, users will now be able to share their location with a search engines, social networks, etc. Release.
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