Opera Browser Featured in the New Palm Foleo Mobile Companion

June 1, 2007; 03:19 AM
Opera and Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced that the new Palm® Foleo™ mobile companion will use the Opera web browser to provide customers a user-friendly web experience. Based on Opera 9, Opera for the Palm Foleo offers intelligent navigation features and support for advanced Web 2.0 applications using Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). Opera’s Software Developer Kit (SDK) proved to be a quick-to-market solution in tailoring a browser suitable for the cutting edge of mobile technology.

[NOTE: Today Palm announced the Foleo mobile companion. Video and images are available from Business Wire (http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5410999) and from Palm’s Multimedia Library (www.palm.com/MultimediaLibrary).]

The Palm Foleo is the first computer designed to be a companion to a smartphone. With the press of one button, the mobile companion’s large screen displays wireless email from a smartphone paired via Bluetooth® technology.⁽¹⁾ A full-size keyboard makes editing email and attachments quick and easy, and the built-in web browser provides reliable wireless Internet access.⁽¹⁾ With Foleo’s instant on/off capability, light and small size, and 5-hour battery life, Palm expects the mobile companion to establish a new category of personal-computing products.

Opera for the Palm Foleo provides the latest in mobile technologies, as it is the first deployment of Opera 9 to a portable device. Opera users of any device are able to visit the same web addresses they already know from browsing the web on a PC. Using their smartphone’s radio or the Foleo’s built-in Wi-Fi radio, Foleo customers can open Opera and immediately begin to browse favorite websites with stylized controls.

“Opera is delighted to work with Palm to enable a great browsing experience on their new category-defining product, the Palm Foleo mobile companion,” said Scott Hedrick, executive vice president of marketing for Opera Software. “The fact that Palm was able to integrate Opera and give it their look and feel in only a few short months demonstrates the value and flexibility of the Opera SDK.”

By building the Foleo on an open Linux-based platform and publishing the tools developers might need, Palm hopes to establish a vibrant developer community to create new applications that extend the mobile companion’s built-in capabilities. Opera demonstrates the ease with which exciting technology and applications can be ported to the Foleo mobile companion.

“Incorporating Opera into Foleo allows us to deliver a user-friendly web-browsing experience,” said Mark Bercow, senior vice president of business development for Palm, Inc. “With web browsing in mind as an important application, we also built in dedicated buttons beneath the keyboard for forward and back. Those buttons, plus the addition of the scroll wheel, make navigating the web using the Opera browser pleasant and easy to do.”

Opera’s architecture is characterized by fast-performing JavaScript and rendering engines that ensure tested performance via the cross-platform experience of its development core. As a leader in adopting Web 2.0 standards, Opera has full DOM support and can smoothly run advanced web and Ajax-based applications on Foleo mobile companions.

Opera for Palm Foleo includes the following features:

• Web-address input auto-completion -- reduces input time with an index of address completions;
• Download manager -- allows users to view download progress and access their downloads from one simple transfer manager window;
• Pop-up blocker -- users can control whether to block all pop-ups or open only those that they request; and
• Bookmarks and history -- allow quick access to favorites and recently viewed sites.

Opera’s flexible SDK allowed Palm to rapidly tailor the user interface to match the look and feel of the Foleo. To request an evaluation kit, please contact Opera at www.opera.com/devices.

Opera Mobile also is available for download to Windows Mobile based Palm Treo™ smartphones at http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/products/.

For more information on the Foleo mobile companion, please visit www.palm.com/seefoleo. To sign up for notification about Foleo availability, please visit www.palm.com/foleonotify.

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.

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc., a leader in mobile computing, strives to put the power of computing in people’s hands so they can access and share their most important information from anywhere. The company’s products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm® Treo™ smartphones, Palm Foleo™ mobile companions and Palm handheld computers, as well as software, services and accessories.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm Retail Stores and Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.

(1) Requires compatible phone with Bluetooth wireless technology. Email requires data services from a mobile service provider at an additional cost. ISP and/or VPN may also be required. Within wireless service coverage area only. A dial-up networking plan from a service provider may be required at an incremental cost above and beyond the service provider’s regular smartphone data plans.

Broadcast Video and Other Palm Materials

Broadcast video and other materials are available online from Palm’s Multimedia Library (www.palm.com/MultimediaLibrary). Press can register at the site, which is hosted by The NewsMarket (www.TheNewsMarket.com), a web-based news and video archive, to browse and preview an extensive content library and order footage directly from their desktops. Registration and ordering on the site is free.

Palm, Foleo and Treo are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners.