Opera Mini will come preinstalled on some INQ phones

Opera Software and INQ have entered into an agreement where the Opera Mini mobile browser will be preinstalled on social networking INQ phones based on the Android platform, as well as on INQ feature phones based on BREW. The handsets with the Opera Mini browser will first be rolled out in March 2011 in the United Kingdom, followed by Australia and other markets.

The Opera Mini browser is the world’s most popular mobile browser with more than 90 million active users worldwide. Opera Mini’s unique features such as Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, password manager and Opera Link, which synchronizes users’ bookmarks across multiple devices, makes it the preferred browser over the device’s native browser.

INQ, a brand backed by Hutchison Whampoa, has pioneered the development of social mobiles and has launched several award-winning phones in many countries.

“INQ has been born out of the Internet, and having a great browser for mobile has been something we wanted to get right,” said Frank Meehan, INQ CEO. “We’ve worked with some great partners in the development of the INQ Cloud Touch, and Opera has been one which shares similar values around making things fast and simple.”

“At Opera, we are always trying to get our browsers on as many devices as possible, and we are excited to work with INQ and serve its customers,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software.