Opera has announced that it has signed an agreement with Virgin Mobile USA to distribute Opera Mini on all Virgin Mobile handsets going forward as the default browser, and will also provide the browser on select models for download through the XL WAP catalog beginning on April 14th with support for Spanish-language browsing.
Speculation had been running in recent weeks that Opera was to make a push in the US market through carrier agreements, but such claims were initially denied by company representatives.
It’s actually already been available. Now they’re just making it official.
Not exactly. Opera Mini was released for Helio devices, which Virgin Mobile now owns… but this announcement is for standard Virgin Mobile phones.
The Helio release was largely unpromoted, mostly due to the fact that you could hack it into the device easily… which prompted Helio to give up and embrace the platform.
Actually, it’s true. I had Opera mini on my Samsung Slash and many other people have downloaded it (just check out howardforums.com)
Yes, but that was unsupported and unreliable. Like on Helio, this is will now be official, updated, and supported.