Opera Mobile

[snip] The global aspect of MobileMonday Global Peer Award was emphasized when Norwegian-made Opera-browser, nominated by MobileMonday Japan, won the business-to-business category on Monday in Helsinki event.

The actual winning application was Opera 8 Mobile Browser for BREW.

15-country jury selected the winners from 21 finalists. The representatives of 15 MobileMonday chapters gave voted the winners by giving 3 points to the best and one point to the second best application.

The Japanese nominee, Opera, gathered 30 points. The second best point total went to eXact Mobile by Giunti Labs with 17 points.

Opera was described as an application that offers mobile users speed and usability by design always in line with the latest development in the Opera desktop browser. Opera allows mobile user to navigate the full Internet.[/snip]

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I haven't updated my blog since we launched Mini - time has just flown as Mini is taking to the sky! I'll come back with more thoughts, quotes and cool things on Mini, but for now I have to devote all my time to 3GSM in Barcelona!

The last weeks here at Opera have been crazy, as this is the first time we will have a major presence at an event such as 3GSM. Our booth is wicked, our staff prepared, all the demos polished and we're ready to go!

We will announce a few cool things during the show, and showcase our latest developments. So for everyone who will be at 3GSM - come visit us in Hall 2, booth E36/37!

We will also be giving away one thousand free licenses for Opera Mobile!

Anyhoo, it is Saturday afternoon and I have to go. I'm leaving for Barcelona tomorrow morning, and will try to update my blog with reports and photos from the event. So make sure to check back!

Ok, so the news will reach you very soon: We've silently removed the restrictions on downloading Opera Mini. The official launch with bells and whistles and fireworks will be in late January, and lifting the restrictions was done to increase the server traffic as we are scaling up for the big, global launch. We may or may not restrict access again before the official launch, but for now Opera Mini is available, free of charge, to everyone. All you have to do is direct your phone's WAP browser to http://mini.opera.com.

I feel I am balancing on the edge here, because we could use a good pre-launch buzz on Opera Mini, but at the same time it is important that we don't get too much publicity now instead of in January. Opera Mini has been hailed by the industry and we at Opera are not the only ones who are very excited about its launch. With Opera Mini, almost everyone can get full Web access on the phone they already have, which is pretty cool, but just as important is looking at it from an industry level. With Opera Mini we are really bringing Mobile Web into the mainstream, with all the obvious implications and benefits that has for operators, content providers and end-users. January will be very exciting.

You should also check the Opera Mini forums on my.opera.com, where users share experiences, tips and tricks.

Today we launched Opera Mini in Germany, and the pick-up seems to be very good. Jakob and I have been on a mini press tour in the major cities this week, and if you want to help - visit popular German forums, blogs, newsgroups, article comments on Opera Mini and spread the word!

Opera 8.5 for Symbian Series 60 is in the final stages of development and will be launched next week. See Bjarte's post in the forums for more information!

UPDATE:
Due to the launch of Opera Mini in Germany and a rush of other Opera releases this and next week, the release of Opera 8.5 is postponed to Monday, Nov 14. Sorry for the delay!

Also see Bjarte's post here