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!