Opera Software has released the latest version of the Opera Web browser, Opera 8, for Windows Mobile, after a few months of open beta testing. The company says Opera's deployment to Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform is a result of customers' and operators' demand for a fast and full-featured Web browser on Windows Mobile devices.

"Originally, we had not planned to make Opera available on the Windows Mobile platform, but users kept asking for it because they were disappointed with the far from satisfactory performance of the browser that came shipped on their devices," says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "We are very pleased to offer the speedy Opera Web experience to Windows Mobile Smartphone users, and we are certain that operators will enjoy added benefit as Opera on their subscribers' Smartphones will increase data traffic and offer compelling use-cases for these devices."

Two technical previews of the Opera Web browser for Windows Mobile 2003 Smartphone were released in autumn 2004. The previews were downloaded by 120,000 end-users who tested and provided feedback on the software. Opera 8 for Windows Mobile is based on Opera's latest core technology, proving that Opera's embedded deliveries are in synch with desktop browser developments.

The browser supports all major Web standards, including CSS2, DOM 2 and JavaScript. Based on Opera's new core code, Opera 8 for Windows Mobile also includes the latest version of Opera's unique Small-Screen Rendering which dynamically reformats Web pages to fit the width of any screen, eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling.

Opera 8 for Windows Mobile costs US$29.