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Have WAP but want WEB? Introducing Opera Mini™ for mobile phones!

August 10, 2010 · by Espen André Øverdahl

August 10, 2005. An important date for everyone into technology and mobile browsing! On this day - five years ago - Opera Mini was released for the first time as a product pilot limited to Norway.

The title of this post (Have WAP but want WEB? Introducing Opera Mini™ for mobile phones!) is taken from the first press release ever published about Opera Mini. We also got some articles covering the release:

Have a look on the first screenshots of Opera Mini 1 and compare them to today's browsers: :smile:

As part of the launch five years ago, TV2 Norway aired some TV ads to get the ball rolling. The ads are a bit strange, but hey, an Opera singer in pink sweatpants will always be awesome. Feel free to download and have a look for yourself:

Readers' comments 39

Left under the original article, as archived.

  • Tandder LimaTuesday, August 10, 2010 1:07:21 PM

    :up: :party:

  • Sami SerolaTuesday, August 10, 2010 1:08:21 PM

    :lol: It would be rather amusing to have a private ill dressed opera singer that follows you everywhere :bigsmile:

  • AndresTuesday, August 10, 2010 1:10:28 PM

    Even on my Symbian based Nokia 5800 I use Opera Mini more than Opera Mobile.

  • lucideerTuesday, August 10, 2010 1:21:25 PM

    What's WAP?

  • Arun KumarTuesday, August 10, 2010 1:22:03 PM

    Thanks to Opera mini I am experiencing The whole web in my Nokia 2630

  • Charles SchlossTuesday, August 10, 2010 1:54:09 PM

    :bigsmile:

  • Dark FurieTuesday, August 10, 2010 1:56:07 PM

    WAP is the acronym for Wireless Application Protocol, the way European mobiles first got on the web. Special WAP sites were created for mobile browsers because they couldn't handle full web sites. That's why Opera Mini was so important when it was released, why I fought tooth and nail to get a copy when it was only available in Norway, and why it's still one of the most important releases in Opera's history. At that time other browser developers (notably Mozilla) were saying no-one would want to view the web via mobile, and that Opera were stupid to try. Phone developers were just getting into the idea of putting the full web on phones, but they had spent years porting heavy browsers over and couldn't seem to shake that trend. Opera are responsible for truly kick-starting the mobile web revolution we see today, and I applaud them for it.

    My personal thanks go to the Mini team for all their efforts and how they've improved my lifestyle.

  • TamilTuesday, August 10, 2010 2:02:12 PM

    :party:

  • HokkutTuesday, August 10, 2010 2:03:55 PM

    fastest browser for phones))

  • CarolTuesday, August 10, 2010 2:22:15 PM

    :yes:

  • Marvin mwendaTuesday, August 10, 2010 3:02:25 PM

    I realy love this browser.pls configure my SGHJ700i_T

  • dirkTuesday, August 10, 2010 3:20:43 PM

    :party: :up:

  • Yeni SetiawanTuesday, August 10, 2010 3:40:24 PM

    Happy birthday Opera Mini!
    :cheers:

  • seriousTuesday, August 10, 2010 3:59:13 PM

    :party: gz, I use it about every day in my home country (currently in germany and my phone here is somewhat like a modernized 3210, so bad luck for me)

  • Philip CrayTuesday, August 10, 2010 4:00:47 PM

    I love mini opera on my phone use it for facebook much better than the Nokia facebook widget BUT the one thing it cannot do is to upload pics off phone straight into facebook.

  • praetor87Tuesday, August 10, 2010 4:49:18 PM

    Oh yeah... Happy Birthday Opera Mini! :party: I have Mini v.2 on SE Z530. The skin was pretty good. The developers don't felt to change it until the 5. Now it get the Opera Mobile's skin.
    And what about i-mode? :lol: The wap is already dead. :smile:

  • AngelikiTuesday, August 10, 2010 9:17:23 PM

    :party:

  • Uncle MickTuesday, August 10, 2010 10:55:22 PM

    Opera Mini was one of the first apps I downloaded onto my new Android phone. And it's the app I use most.

  • d4rkn1ghtWednesday, August 11, 2010 1:29:26 AM

    :up: :yes:

  • albinantonyWednesday, August 11, 2010 3:03:03 AM

    it was nice but now a days its not working properly . so many times i tried to inform through mail and all but no response form them. some most commonly using web are not getting in full web that i really want . in early days i was using opera mostly but now it changed to bolt browser its bit more fast and getting full web view. for social networking webs like orkut is not getting in full view with opera , but with bolt browser ! also bolt browser giving me video view in itsown browser window ! so please try to clear there problem as early as possible . with regards albin antony

  • KarthickWednesday, August 11, 2010 5:23:20 AM

    its really....grt...m...using...opera..mini...3years.....nothing...cn...compete...opera....thanks...to u.opera...guys

  • theoddbodWednesday, August 11, 2010 7:13:58 AM

    I remember running this on my lil' ole K700 :awww::bigsmile: Literally a life-changer.

  • NicoWednesday, August 11, 2010 8:14:51 AM

    I really love Opera Mini on my Milestone, it is aweseome!

    By the way: I didn't realize until now that "Batman Begins" is five years old, too :wink:

  • blueaquaWednesday, August 11, 2010 12:42:25 PM

    Thanks guys for a really awesome browser,opera mini just keeps getting better and better,keep up the awesome work:))

  • ПавелWednesday, August 11, 2010 1:28:33 PM

    happy birthday)

  • Jirayu YingthawornsukWednesday, August 11, 2010 2:15:41 PM

    Happy Birth Day to Opera mini !!!

    I'm a big fan of Opera mini. but I'm Windows Mobile User, so I'm waiting for new update yor native version of Opera Mini for WinMo

  • huxrThursday, August 12, 2010 1:24:49 AM

    Ah, how nostalgic can one become? :smile:

    Exactly 5 years ago, that summer brought me to Opera Desktop because it supported WAP! :smile: A WAP-only chat site recommended it for access from a PC! So WAP brought me to Opera, but in another way! :smile:
    And it was love at first sight. :smile:

    Opera Mini came later for me, at the end of fall that year. (After it was silently enabled worldwide, 1-2 months before it was officially announced. Truly underground then!) It was my instant savior! Previously I was pushing Google web-to-WAP transformer to its limits for more than half a year on my cheap Motorola C385 WAP+xHTML-mobile browser. I even used the trial version of Requireless' WebViewer sometimes, which I had to redownload and reactivate after every 10 or 15 page downloads!

    Hilarious, when I come to think how much burden I was capable of bearing just because *I had WAP but wated WEB*! :wink:

    So it cannot be truer than this: it has always been Opera Mini that brought me the most of the web on a mobile ever since, and it still does even on my current Nokia E72. Really a new era has begun then!

  • Abinya syafiqThursday, August 12, 2010 6:52:59 AM

    i am using opmin every day :yes:

  • TimurkiNThursday, August 12, 2010 6:08:04 PM

    :yes:

  • SertseFriday, August 13, 2010 1:03:50 AM

    Oh wow, I only *just* found this now. That my old old phone Sony Ericcson t630 is wap cable and that because of this announcement found opera mini works with it for "web" rather than "wap"

    Zoom around in opera mini 3 now! (the version it supports) haha

  • Adonis @ my.opera /friendspartyworldFriday, August 13, 2010 3:59:27 AM

    :yes: Now i like to know: when started My.Opera and who started first. And how it happened
    :up: :left: :right:

  • selurusFriday, August 13, 2010 5:20:46 AM

    Definately a life changer. Opera Mini will go down in the history as the software application that brought the real internet to the masses, without a pc. :smile:

  • HappySaturday, August 14, 2010 9:39:49 AM

    Oh,my god!I can't understand them!Too difficult!!!

  • CyberDragonflySunday, August 15, 2010 12:39:18 PM

    Happy Birthday Opera Mini ! Oh, how I love you :smile:

  • SammySunday, August 15, 2010 4:26:40 PM

    opera mini displays the whole world on your mobile phone. HAPPY BIRTHDAY OPERA.

  • Megan MartyrMonday, August 16, 2010 3:22:34 AM

    happy anniversary guys and thanks for opera mini which i regard as magic.

  • JAMSHEERMonday, August 16, 2010 3:21:45 PM

    Yeh opera mini is the best mobile browser I have ever used .Now the latest version has download manager in it ...thats too cool... :-)

  • ebony etokThursday, August 19, 2010 2:16:07 AM

    i like it it is good as good

  • AdrianPMTuesday, September 7, 2010 8:45:27 PM

    Up to this day I can use the REAL Web on an "ancient" Samsung X636 cell phone (although I just use Mini v3.0 lite).

    Facebook, news sites, weather, tech news, and more, at the reach of my hands and at affordable prices! Thank you Opera for so much love! :wink: :wink: :wink:

About this article

Published inChoose Opera
DateAugust 10, 2010
AuthorEspen André Øverdahl
Tagsnorway, opera mini
OriginalInternet Archive

The Red O » Developers » Choose Opera » Have WAP but want WEB? Introducing Opera Mini™ for mobile phones!

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