Opera Lands Samsung Licensing Deal

Opera Software announced a licensing contract Thursday that will put its namesake browser on future mobile handsets made by Samsung Electronics.

The South Korean electronics maker will use Opera Mobile, a pared-down browser designed for small screens that also emphasizes vertical scrolling, in as-yet-unspecified advanced cell and/or smartphones. Neither Opera nor Samsung would disclose the total value.

"We're proud that Opera Mobile is today's choice for Web browsing on the latest Samsung mobile handset because of its winning user experience and form factor adaptation," said Jon von Tetzchner, Opera's CEO, in a statement.

Although Opera accounts for a very small slice of browser usage on PCs, it has become a dominant player in the mobile market. The Opera Mobile and Opera Mini browsers, for example, appear on BlackBerry PDAs, Nokia phones, and the Nintendo Wii video game console.