Opera 9 released in browser war broadside

Opera Software introduced the next version of its desktop browser and a marketing campaign on Wednesday to lure more users.

Opera Chief Executive Officer Jon von Tetzchner said of the new software release: “For Opera 9, we worked hard to push the limits of what people expect from a Web browser, with increased speed, new Web standards support and innovative features such as widgets and BitTorrent.”

“Even though we shaped this browser for the Web’s future, we have the powerful features people want and need for their surfing today … Opera 9 has something for everyone.”

Daniel Goldman, founder and editor in chief of the Opera Watch blog, had posted a rumor the launch was coming. In it he said  the company was also likely to introduce a “serious” campaign to attract more users to its desktop browser.

The company did not indicate on Wednesday that a major ad program was planned alongside the release of Opera 9, and did not immediately return calls.

A very small percentage of desktop users currently use Opera on their machines. Microsoft ‘s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers are most popular with PC users; Macintosh users generally use Apple Computer’s Safari browser.

Opera has had much more success with its mobile browser, Opera for Mobile, which the company says was pre-installed on about 7.7 million mobile phones in the first quarter of 2006. Opera also offers a free mobile browser, the Opera Mini.

Opera also has a deal with Nintendo Co. to offer its browser for the forthcoming Wii game console and the DS player, another partnership that may be discussed at Tuesday’s event.

Opera 9 has a considerable number of new features, according to Opera. The browser will include “Opera Widgets,” or mini-applications that give users customized content, such as news and weather. The browser also will allow users to customize which default search engine they want to use in the browser’s search box.

The company says widget developers can use open and common Web standards such as JavaScript, CSS, HTML, SVG and AJAX to create Opera widgets. See widgets.opera.com.

Other new features in Opera 9 include both improved content blocker and pop-up blocker, and the ability to set site-specific preferences, such as picking which site’s cookies to accept and which to deny, Opera said.

Mike Barton in San Francisco contributed to this report.