Opera scores Kyocera deal

IDG News Service - Japan's Kyocera Corp. is poised to become the first major Asian mobile phone manufacturer to use small-screen Web technology developed by Norway's Opera Software ASA.

Kyocera has agreed to include Opera's Smartphone Edition Web browser in new products, making it easier for mobile phone users to surf the Internet, the Norwegian software vendor said Monday in a statement.

Opera's small-screen rendering (SSR) technology reformats Web pages designed for desktop or notebook computers to fit on smaller screens, eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling, the company said.

Its Smartphone Edition is designed to run on numerous operating systems, including the Micro-Itron operating system widely used in Asian smart phone and PDA products, said Pal Hvistendahl, a spokesman for Opera.

In addition to running over the Micro-Itron operating system, Opera's Smartphone technology also ensures successful rendering of Web pages coded in "street" HTML, according to Hvistendahl. Street HTML is Opera's nickname for the nonstandard HTML code used in many Web sites.

"Many people who design Web pages don't always write to standard, so we've included street HTML to make sure that people visiting Web sites with this code and see everything," Hvistendahl said.

Kyocera will be the first manufacturer in Japan to support full HTML rendering, the Opera spokesman said. In addition to standard HTML and street HTML, Opera also supports the extensible HTML standard used in mobile devices based on Wireless Application Protocol and the compact HTML standard used in I-mode technology.

The Japanese company plans to announce the first product's based on Opera's Smartphone Edition in the near future, Hvistendahl said but was unable to provide dates and prices. "Kyocera hasn't yet disclosed this information," he said.