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Opera's plans for Windows 10 Mobile? Focus on iPhone, Android

Opera is abandoning further work on its Opera Mini browser for Windows mobile devices.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer
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Opera is not abandoning the Windows Phone browser completely and will provide security updates when applicable.

Image: Opera Software

Don't expect any major feature updates to Opera Mini on Windows Phone, the soon-to-be-acquired Norwegian browser maker has announced.

Opera has suspended work on new features for Opera Mini on Windows Phone and put the team behind the product to work on its iOS and Android apps.

The company is not abandoning the Windows Phone browser completely and will provide security updates when applicable.

It may resume work on Windows Phone at a future date, but Opera engagement specialist Ruth Alflat, said "no major updates are planned for the next few months".

The move by Opera is not such a surprise, given Windows Phone is all but dead. Microsoft only sold 4.5 million Lumia devices in the fourth quarter of 2015. It will give its next sales update in its earnings announcement on Thursday.

Even the HERE mapping service, which Nokia sold to a consortium of car manufacturers, was pulled from the Windows 10 store on March 30.

Due to a lack of resources, Opera isn't considering alternative paths to continue developing the app for Windows Phone, ruling out a universal app for Windows 10. It also won't be using Microsoft's tools to port its iOS browser to Windows 10 mobile.

"[Porting] is a great solution for some apps, and our teams did look into it as a possibility, but unfortunately it wasn't a good solution. A browser is a much more complex animal than other apps," Alflat wrote.

Opera announced in February that it had accepted a $1.2bn offer from a consortium of Chinese software firms, including Qihoo 360 Software. However, the deal still hasn't been cleared and the offer period was last week extended to May 24.

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