Opera Software has developed a Web browser that it claims brings
the full World-Wide Web to the small screens of handheld devices.
The browser reformats a standard Web page so it fits on the small
screen of mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
Users no longer have to scroll horizontally to see the full width
of the page, said Live Leer, a spokeswoman for Opera.
Opera is looking to sell the software to hardware makers, who can
then install it on their products. No deals could be announced, but
Opera expects the first devices with the new browser to be
available in the first quarter of next year, said Leer, who also
declined to disclose pricing for the browser.
Delivering the Web on handheld devices has been a challenge for
software makers, handset vendors and mobile telephony operators.
Screen size, keyboard variations and limited bandwidth on mobile
networks are the main obstacles.
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and compact Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML) were invented to solve those problems, but those
technologies require Web pages to be rewritten for mobile devices
and do not deliver an experience similar to the fixed Web.
Perhaps we should not strive to bring the fixed Web to mobile
phones, suggested Ben Wood, a senior analyst with Dataquest, a unit
of Gartner.
Wood believes WAP, which basically serves up an all-text Web, is
"one of the best ways of presenting information on a mobile".
"I don't think people will be flocking to use the Internet on a
mobile phone," he said. "There is some sort of value when you need
to read important information right away. If it is not rendered
perfectly, it is not such a big problem."