Opera claims synch is browser's killer feature

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 9 Jun 2008 at 17:55

Opera claims the ability to synchronise its browsers across different devices could be the key to future success, as it gears up to release verion 9.5 of its desktop browser.

The new version of Opera comes with a feature called Opera Link, which allows a person using a different version of the browser on their mobile phone, desktop and even Wii to synchronise their bookmarks.

Set against tent-pole features such as Speed Dial and improved security, you'd be forgiven for missing it, but Opera believes it could prove the key to future uptake.

"Opera's uniqueness is that it's everywhere," Tatsuki Tomita, Opera Software's senior vice president of consumer products told PC Pro this afternoon. "It runs on consumer electronics devices, TV-set boxes, games consoles and different types of mobile phones. Yes, Internet Explorer runs on Windows Mobile handsets and Safari runs on iPhone, but Opera runs on any kind of handset: Motorola, HTC devices, any handsets you can get."

"Now we can start enabling features that take advantage of having browsers running on different devices. So, Opera link is a small but significant step. Now you can synchronise bookmarks and speed dial, but as you can imagine we can do a lot more. I think that's a very unique competitive advantage, because obviously our competitors don't have those features."

Tomita also believes that the success of Opera could begin to push users towards the desktop browser, especially in countries such as Russian and China, where he claims Opera currently holds 20% of the browser market.

Opera 9.5 is available in beta here.