Opera Software Acquires Application Store Solution Company Handster

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 21 Sep 2011

Norwegian developer Opera Software announced at the start of the week that it acquired leading mobile application store platform company Handster. Opera Software did not disclose the amount of money it paid to acquire the company. It did mention though that Handster Founder and CEO Victor Shaburov will join the Opera Mobile Consumer and Publisher management team based in San Mateo, California.

“Handster could not have found a better suitor”, said the abovementioned Victor Shaburov. “The combination of our platform, along with Opera’s position in the market, will make a big impact on the mobile ecosystem, benefiting developers, publishers, operators and handset manufacturers around the world,” he added.

Handster is an application store solution company that was founded back in 2004 and has operations in the US (Northbrook, Illinois) and in Ukraine (Odessa). It is a leading mobile application store platform company that offers services to mobile operators, device manufacturers and application stores globally; this includes a white-label app store platform, content management, developer tools, content curation and financial settlement services. MTS, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, LG and other leading mobile operators, mobile platform providers and device manufacturers are among its customers.

Since 2004, Handster managed to assemble world’s largest independent Android content library. Apart from Android, the Handster platform supports Java, Symbian, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, netbook and tablet applications. Opera Software will use Handster to improve its Opera Mobile Store that was launched back in March, store that offers web content and apps for just about every mobile platform (iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and so on).

“Opera is evolving from being a browser company into a fully integrated mobile services company and this acquisition is an important step in that direction. We are delighted to welcome the Handster team into the Opera family. Handster will enable us to strengthen our mobile store offerings to consumers, mobile operators and handset manufacturers,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software.


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