Opera press releases

Cheers for Opera in Japan

Opera awarded 2003 best product design

Oslo, Norway - October 21, 2003

Opera Software is happy to announce it has been awarded the 2003 Best Product Design in Software Applications by the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization. This is the third software design award Opera has received in Japan in a year. Since Opera's Japanese desktop Web browser product launch just two years ago, Opera has become the browser of choice for millions of Japanese Internet users.

While Opera's Japanese desktop browser continues to push forward with regular roll-outs of updated versions with new, innovative features, Opera is also partnering with some of the most important industry players in Japan to provide additional software solutions. As a result, Opera has been able to introduce Asia to its revolutionary mobile Web browsing technology, Small-Screen Rendering™, with partners such as Kyocera and Sharp Zaurus.

"I'm excited about the success we are having in Japan," says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software ASA. "Opera is thrilled to be so well received in a country that leads the age of technology and we hope to build on that relationship."

Opera's Japanese reseller, Transware Ltd., contributes in strengthening Opera's presence in Japan. Transware has achieved great success in selling Opera in the country. Earlier this year, Transware signed up the one of the largest universities in Japan, the University of Tokyo, and more users are signing up through Transware every day.

Opera has also been awarded the 2002 Editor's Choice Award for the Best PC Software by WPC Arena and the 2002 Best Online Software Award by the Japan Internet Association.

Small-Screen Rendering™ technology

Opera's breakthrough Small-Screen Rendering™ (SSR) technology intelligently reformats today's Web sites to fit the screen width of mobile phones and PDAs, eliminating the need for horizontal scrolling. SSR is currently being adopted by the major players in the telecommunications industry.

About Transware

Transware is a software development company based in Japan. They are a market leader in a development of web based E-mail software, called the Active! mail. As an innovative mail solution software, Active! mail has been receiving appraisals especially from universities and corporations, and is expanding it's share to private users with web mail hosting service "Active! mail.jp". Transware has begun the management of jp.opera.com starting from 2002 as the primary reseller of Opera in Japanese market. Working closely with Opera ASA, Transware aims to promote the Opera browser to the educational sphere in Japan.

About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA has redefined Web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera's cross-platform Web browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com.

PR Contacts

Norway:
Tor Odland
Communications Director
Tel: +47 2416 4242
Email: toro[at]opera.com

United States:
Michelle Valdivia Lien
Communications Manager
Tel: +1 786 208 6072
Email: michelle[at]opera.com

Japan:
Kaori Kotobuki
Communications Manager
Tel: +81 3 57 68 82 24
Email: kaorik[at]opera.com

Contact us at press08@opera.com