Opera challenges Google and Apple with an apps store

WEB BROWSER OUTFIT Opera Software is set to rival Apple and Google with the launch of a mobile apps store.

Developed in partnership with Appia, the store will offer a range of free and paid apps that can be downloaded on devices running Java, Symbian, Blackberry OS or Android, with a custom storefront for each operating system.

Opera isn't restricting the store to users of its own browser, despite that doing quite well in the mobile market.

To ensure that more apps will be added to the store on a regular basis, Opera is also launching its Publisher Portal, which could attract a lot of attention given how many devices and platforms the store is catering for.

Opera is boasting big figures for its store from a beta trial, where it attracted 15 million users from 200 different countries in the month of February alone. That accounted for a whopping 700,000 downloads per day, which if carried over to the live client will catapult Opera into the top 10 global mobile app stores. µ