Opera announces Google mobile move

Mobile web browser Opera has announced that Google is to be made its default search option instead of Yahoo! which has been the company's chosen partner since the beginning of last year.

Opera claims that its users browse more than 1.7 billion pages, using search engines to locate many of them.

Google has been the company's desktop browser default for seven years and Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive officer of Opera, said he is looking forward to extending the working relationship.

"With 2008 poised to be the year the mobile web goes mainstream, Google and Opera are extending this collaboration to give our users immediate access to the quality and convenience of Google's search results," he added.

More than 35 million consumers use Opera Mini to browse the web through their mobiles.

However, Yahoo! issued a statement which claimed it had elected to end its mobile search partnership with Opera, although it did not specify what promoted such a move.