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As expected, Opera Software has released the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta for Windows Mobile. The long-awaited web browser now looks more like Opera Mini or the iPhone's Safari, allowing users to view the entire web page and instantly recognize the site. In addition, there's a new, improved user interface, pan and zoom option, improved standards support, option to save pages and/or images, Opera Dragonfly developer tools, and more.

In a nutshell - it's a must have app even while in beta. Here's the download page, and from here you can see tons of screenshots.

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Mike Rowehl, whom you may know from the "This is Mobility" blog, has joined the Skyfire Labs, to become part of the team that makes the most promising mobile web browser on the market.

Rowehl will join as Scalability Architect and will be responsible for driving the architecture and development of Skyfire's browsing service in preparation for general availability of the Skyfire product later this year.

Prior to Skyfire, Rowehl founded and acted as CEO of Mowser, the Web "mobilizer" that turns Web pages into mobile-friendly WAP sites. He also held technology positions at AdMob, Ning, Feedster, Overture, and is also the founder and organizer of Mobile Monday events in the Silicon Valley.

Opera Software said the Opera Mobile 9.5 will be delayed for two days. Instead of releasing Opera Mobile 9.5 Beta for Windows Mobile on July 15th, the Norway-based software developer will release it on July 17th. That's not much, even though I know many people who eagerly wait to give the new Opera Mobile a try. Here's what they say at the blog:

As you can imagine, we encountered a few bugs last week that we needed to fix before we launch. Our engineering team worked through the weekend to fix the bugs. Even though our release is a beta, we'd rather spend the extra time to fix them, thus giving you a better experience. The fixes are almost complete now, but we need two more days to run the build through our quality assurance testing. The new launch date is now set for the 17th.

I'm cool with that - it's better to wait for two more days and get a better product initially!

[Via: jkOnTheRun]

The number of subscribers using mobile Internet services will rise from today's 577 million to 1.7 billion by 2013, thanks to the demand for collaborative applications known collectively as "web 2.0" and greater 2.5/3G penetration.

Established mobile players face increasing competition from web-based brands (Google? Yahoo?) and will have to adapt their strategies to accommodate greater collaboration with other members of the value chain, if future revenue growth in the mobile web 2.0 space is to be achieved.

According to the new Juniper Research's report titled "Mobile Web 2.0: Leveraging Location, IM, Social Web & Search 2008-2013," the emergence of such applications as social networking, user generated content, instant messaging and location based services call for delivery of the mobile Internet as it was originally conceived - OPEN! The idea is to allow users to share, collaborate and exploit content/information without any single party controlling the value chain.

Read the full article

Google dedicated search app for S60 devices just got international. Now, Symbian S60 smartphone owners from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and UK can join their U.S.' buddies, and can search faster from their phone, while on the go. Not that the original application hasn't worked outside the U.S., it's just more convenient this way. Apparently, users will experience 40% faster search this way, according to Google.

The procedure stays the same, simple press the pen key on the idle screen and you're ready to go.

To download the Google search for your S60 phone, go to the URL for your country (from the image above) using the phone's browser and then choosing the download link for Search. That's it!

[Via: Google Mobile Blog]

Opera Software has ambitious plans to go beyond the browser. They already rule the mobile web browser market and they think it's about time their software is turned into platform. That being said, they've just announced support for Google Gears in their desktop and mobile browsers.

The inclusion of Gears in Opera's main browsing products supports Opera's vision of transforming the browser into a full platform for applications, regardless of device.

I'm not sure Opera Mini can handle Gears at this stage, but Opera Mobile 9.5 certainly could. Opera's CEO Jon von Tetzchner confirmed that, saying: "The forthcoming Opera Mobile 9.5 with Gears will usher in a new era for the Web on mobile devices. Together, these products will create new ways to bring applications to life on mobile devices. Developers will be able to use this along with Opera Dragonfly to develop and debug compelling applications for any connected environment."

Amen to that!

Opera Software has announced a "silent" update of its Opera Mini 4.1 web browser for BlackBerry and Palm device users.

With the new version (4.1.11355) of Opera Mini, BlackBerry users should now be able to only use WiFi. In addition, BIS might be working, though Opera Mini folks can't guarantee that — it works on one of their two different service providers.

As for the Palm users, they should expect an improved image performance thank to better memory handling.

If you don't use Palm or BlackBerry, you don't really have to update.

[Via: jkOnTheRun]

Roughly a month ago, Opera Software released Opera Mini 4.1 in beta. The final version is now out, and it packs all of the features the beta version had in a more stable packaging.

Let's recap the features:

• It's up to 50% faster than Opera Mini 4.0
• URL completions support makes address input a snap
• Web pages can be saved for later off-line viewing
• Quick access to the word or phrase you want in Web pages
• Images, ringtones and other content can be downloaded without leaving Opera Mini

Opera Mini 4.1 is freely available from here, and yes we urge you to download it!

Google announced that it has released a new version of the Google Reader for iPhone. Still in beta, it promises to deliver much better, more desktop-like experience to the Apple handset owners.

This new version is designed to offer many of the same features as the desktop, while making it quick and easy to act on items. If you've used list view, then it should be familiar to you. Scan the titles for an item that interests you, tap and it expands in place. Starring, sharing, and keeping unread are done in place, so you never have to leave the list view or refresh the page. We think it's a very fast way to power through your reading list.

In related news, the updated Google Reader works well with the Nokia Internet Tablet devices. Jonathan Greene of Featured Maemo Apps posted a short video showing the new GReader in "N810 action."

Again, the new Google Reader for iPhone is still in beta, hence you won't be redirected there automatically. You'll have to visit www.google.com/reader/i/ from a browser and eventually bookmark it.

"Mobile entertainment community" Limbo has just announced it's Mobile Advertising report for Q108. This is a suvey based on 1000 Adults, and there are some very interesting stats.

Check out these numbers, each with a little graphic:

• The number of WAP users is now about 50% of those using SMS:

• 51% of SMS users are 35 and older:

• 53% of WAP users are 35 and older:

That is the first study I have seen in some time that goes against the flow in showing a more "mature" group using WAP services - certainly it could be argued that most marketing efforts for mobile internet services are pointed at a younger demographic. Thoughts anyone?

To download the full report, go here.

[Via: ModiAD News]