Opera Software, a perennial underdog, has launched a new browser project to help get it out of the doghouse.
The project is designed to revamp the basics of how you use a browser, Chief Executive Lars Boilesen said in an interview at the
Mobile World Congress show here in Barcelona, Spain.
"I want to add more smart features," with a browser that recognizes whether you're reading news, checking email, or social networking, then adapts to suit the task, Boilesen said. For example, "if you're shopping, you could get recommendations on the side. We're trying to predict that."
The Oslo, Norway-based company began the project toward the end of 2015, and the new browser should arrive later this year.
Browsers have changed little in appearance since Google's Chrome arrived in 2008. Chrome combined the formerly separate boxes for typing Web addresses and for performing searches, and it stripped away browser interface clutter like menus, toolbars and status bars to devote as much space as possible to what's actually on a website.
