Opera ends up on the INQ

EUROPEAN BROWSER DEVELOPER Opera has signed a deal to put its mini-browser onto the social notworking INQ phones.

The web browser will be pre-installed on several INQ smartphones based on the Android platform, as well as on INQ feature phones based on the Brew user interface.

The handsets with the Opera Mini browser will first be rolled out in March 2011 in the UK, followed by Australia and other markets.

The Opera Mini browser is under the bonnet of more than 90 million phones, thanks mostly to the popularity of its webpage compression technology.

INQ - no relation to The INQUIRER - is a brand backed by Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong that has been flogging social notworking mobile phones. It claims to market several award-winning phones in many countries.

While Opera has made little impact in the world of Internet browsing its mobile efforts have been quite successful. The outfit said in a statement that it wants to see its browser on as many mobile devices as possible. If the INQ phones become a fad then that might end up being the case. µ