Opera has announced an experimental port of its Opera Mini mobile browser to Google’s Android platform.
The Android version runs in an emulated Java ME session and still has a few small issues, although that’s perhaps understandable when you consider there is no actual Android hardware available to test it on.
This could be a great move for Opera. Symbian, the iPhone and Windows Mobile each have well established browsers with big user bases. While it would see natural to expect the open source Firefox browser to take pole position on Android, the mobile Firefox is dragging its feet a bit and the developers seem to be focusing on the Windows Mobile platform for their initial release.
Opera mini is a very capable Java browser - certainly its better than the default Symbian and WinMo efforts - the problem Opera have always had is in persuading users to leave their comfort zone and try somethng unfamiliar.
With Android offering virgin territory, could this be Opera’s big chance?
