Opera to open unit in Chandigarh

Norway-based web browser company Opera Software is entering India by opening up a development centre in Chandigarh.

The company is planning to commence its Indian operations by setting up a quality assurance and marketing team.

The company is planning to localise its products depending of the country's market. "India is a huge market and to sell our products in the country, we need to set up a base here. Marketing and support are important for a product like this, and we also intend to recruit local talent for our operations," Chief Executive Officer Jon S Von Tetzchner told Business Standard here today.

However, he did not reveal the proposed investment. The company is planning to set up the centre in phases, he said, adding, "the recruitment and investments will be made as we go along".

On the operations in India, he said, "Browsing is undergoing a revolution. We are actively trying to extend our browser to as many devices as possible."

He said. "in India, people access the internet in many other ways other than through PCs. The company would look at enabling internet browsers on phones, game consoles, PDAs and other devices. This could be mainly done out of India."

Across the world, the company is competing with Netscape and Mozilla Fire Fox, the other major browsers.