Oslo, Norway and Barcelona, Spain – 14 February 2006
Opera Software, a global leader in Web browser technologies, and Freedom Media, an independent, consumer-oriented information- and service provider, today announced the world’s first mobile widget application based on Opera Software’s mobile AJAX authoring environment, Opera Platformâ„¢. Named “Freedom”, the application offers a collection of mobile pay-per-view services designed to increase the usability of mobile Web based services by offering a suite of widgets such as news, real-time stock prices and maps, all through a rich user interface.
Opera Software is demonstrating the Freedom application at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona this week, at Opera’s stand in Hall 2, E36/37.
“Freedom is a great demonstration of how the Opera Platformâ„¢ mobile AJAX authoring environment can help operators, handset manufacturers or content providers create compelling user-oriented premium services that are not hindered by the limitations of WAP and GSM/GPRS data transfer speeds,” says Timo Bruns, EVP Mobile, Opera Software. “AJAX has become very popular on the Mac/PC platform, and it makes even more sense in the mobile space as it enables the creation of Web based services that are so fast they seem like local applications.”
The Opera Platformâ„¢ Software Development Kit (SDK) sparked the interest of mobile content providers, mobile analysts and Web developers worldwide when the beta version was released on November 15, 2005. Opera Platformâ„¢ allows developers to create platform independent applications based on well known Web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Together with XMLHttpRequest, the combination of these technologies is popularly referred to as AJAX. AJAX is a Web development technique that is increasingly used to develop new Internet services such as Google Maps and Amazon A9 Search. Opera Platformâ„¢ enables these types of rich Web applications to be developed and used on mobile phones. In addition, Developers can easily adapt existing content and Web applications to run on mobile phones using Opera Platformâ„¢.
“Using Opera Platformâ„¢ was the natural choice for us when developing the Freedom application” says Frank Rigal, CEO, Freedom Media. “With the Opera Platformâ„¢ Software Development Kit (SDK) we could quickly create a platform-independent mobile widget solution using open-standard Web technologies instead of native code for the different mobile platforms.„
Availability
At this stage, Freedom will be pre-installed on selected Nokia phones in the Norwegian market, and it will also be available as a free download for Norwegian Nokia S60 mobile owners.
About Freedom Media AS
Freedom Media AS is a major player in the field of advanced content for 2,5G and 3G mobile phones. Its unique technological platform and one-click payment system allow content providers to bill their users either through a mobile operator or through 3rd party payment-solutions such as Payex/PayPal/major creditcards etc. with just a single click. Freedom offers market access to major content players, including leading scandinavian newspapers, stock exchange information, TV-channels, white/ yellow pages in addition to weather, GSM-positioning, maps and more.
Dangaard Telecom, Europe’s largest distributor of Smart Phones, Mobile phones and original accessories, is a preferred partner of Freedom Media and has the exclusive rights to use and distribute the Freedom application.
Contact:
Freedom Media
Frank Rigal
CEO, Freedom Media AS
Email: frank@freedommedia.no
Dir: +47-23210461
Mobile: +47-90515273
Contact:
Opera Software
Eskil G. Sivertsen
Public Relations Manager, Mobile
E-mail: eskils@opera.com
Dir: +47 2416 4213
Mob: +47 9268 9277