Opera Software today announced it will deliver Opera's port for the BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) application development platform with KDDI, Japan's second largest mobile operator. KDDI has enjoyed tremendous success in the mobile services market, and has surpassed NTT DoCoMo, a unit of Japan's former phone monopoly, winning more than three times as many subscribers to their 3G mobile service.

"Opera's full Internet browser offers the greatest advantage with the high-speed and efficient data communication capabilities of the 3G CDMA network," says Dr. Seiichiro Sakai, Director, Product Management Department, Service & Product Planning Division.

Opera has long espoused the philosophy of giving users access to the full Internet with its abundance of content and possibilities for convergence between devices.

"We are very excited to have KDDI onboard as an Opera partner. By listening closely to customer demand, KDDI is now leading the way in Japan when it comes to defining the future of telecom, with an emphasis on fast and user-friendly data services," says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "With Opera, KDDI handsets get a browser that supports all the open Web standards, combined with Opera's inventiveness that develops an unrivalled browser user experience."

BREW is a new port for Opera. Unveiled in 2001, BREW is Qualcomm's open source application development platform for wireless devices that leverages the existing and emerging features provided by Qualcomm's CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) chipsets. BREW runs in between the application and the chip operating system software, providing a uniform platform for phones from various manufacturers. BREW enables publishers, developers, operators and handset manufacturers to create and deliver new wireless data products and services with minimal resource and capital investments. According to Qualcomm, there are currently over 31 million BREW devices in the market, on 145 commercial BREW device models, backed by 33 commercial BREW operators and 27 commercial BREW device manufacturers.