Originally published December 1 2005
Opera web browser to be available in-flight
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
More than fifteen airlines will use the Opera browser through TopSeries, the Thales in-flight entertainment system. Opera's internationalization features make global deployments possible in multiple languages.
Opera said Wednesday it's partnering with Thales, an electronics and systems company specializing in in-flight entertainment systems, to offer its browsers on Boeing and Airbus aircraft in a move that could give the company a revenue source other than traditional desktops.
Opera will deliver its browser through TopSeries, the Thales in-flight entertainment system that is being used by more than 15 airlines including Air Canada and Air France.
The move could help raise the profile of Opera, which offers the fourth-most-popular browser after Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, and Safari.
Mr. von Tetzchner did not reveal the value of the contract but said that Opera will be paid per unit shipped and for any additional customizations it makes.
Opera's partnership with Thales is an indicator that the company is shifting its focus to markets where it has an advantage over rivals like Firefox and IE.
Though Opera's desktop browser has been around since 1995, it has less than 1 percent market share.
Among them, Opera has been building up its profile in the embedded-devices segment that includes mobile, PDAs, home media like television sets and set-top boxes, and in-flight entertainment systems.
The mobile devices segment, in particular, has been a strong area of focus for Opera.
More than 8.8 million phones running the Opera browser were bought in 2004, compared to 2 million phones in 2003, the company said (see Opera: Mobile Browser Diva).
Nearly two-thirds of Opera's revenues comes from embedded devices, of which mobile is the biggest chunk and about one-third stems from desktops, said Mr. von Tetzchner.
"We believe that in the future, more and more web technology will be made on all kinds of devices," he said.
Mozilla only recently released the first version of its browser for mobile phones.
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