Couch-surfing from Opera and Vestel

Vestel and Opera bring web to TVs and set-top boxes

Smart TV is booming today, and premium web content has become a must-have for connected devices. Opera Software and Vestel, a leading TV manufacturer of consumer electronics in Europe, today announced their partnership to deliver Opera’s TV products on Vestel Smart TVs and set-top boxes. Vestel devices powered by Opera’s ultimate web experience will ship globally later this year.

Vestel is the largest TV producer in Europe, shipping over 10 million TVs yearly, and is one of the continent’s leading set-top box producers.

Starting this year, Vestel will deploy its TVs and set-top boxes with the Opera Devices SDK and Opera’s HbbTV technology, which already powers millions of devices shipped by over 50 manufacturers worldwide. By integrating Opera’s TV products on Vestel TVs, Opera’s technology will now work on advanced MStar chipsets. Next year, Vestel devices will also ship with the Opera TV Browser, giving users a seamless browsing experience based on Opera’s powerful engine.

“Opera is providing one of the leading browsers for the Smart TV market,” says Hakan Kutlu, Deputy General Manager, Vestel. “Popular web services for TV are moving in the direction of HTML5, and new web standards for TV are rapidly emerging. To ensure a long-term browser partner to fulfill our ambitions to run these services, we’ve opted to launch our Smart TVs with Opera.”

“Opera Software, as an important member of the W3C and HbbTV consortium, is actively expanding HTML5 and HbbTV specifications, together with leading content providers,” says Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “Thanks to this experience we are able to bring this emerging technology to Vestel easily, and we look forward to powering the web entertainment experience of the next million viewers.”

Opera is demonstrating its enhanced Opera Devices SDK and the Opera TV Browser at the International Broadcast Cooperation Show 2012 in Amsterdam, being held September 7 – September 11, in booth 5.B47.

About Vestel

Vestel is a major player in the consumer electronics and household appliances with renowned products including television sets, B2B displays, digital set-top boxes, and white goods. Group are comprised of 25 companies operating in manufacturing, technology development, marketing, and distribution fields with € 3.7 billion turnover. The company is recognized for its cutting edge designs, impressive product quality, big production capacity and superior market share growth.

About Opera Software ASA

The worldwide World Wide Web — any device, any platform, any bandwidth, absolutely anywhere in the world. Opera Software was founded in 1994, based on the idea that access to the web should be a universal right. 275 million people (and counting) use the Opera web browsers for computers, mobile phones, TVs and other connected devices. Opera also delivers tools, distribution, engagement, monetization and market insights to developers, publishers and brands around the world. We are passionate about breaking down barriers, so everyone can share in the power of the internet. Our vision of one web for all remains at the heart of what we do, because we believe that participation changes everything. Opera Software ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. ‘Opera’, ‘Opera Software’, ‘Opera Mini’ and the ‘O’ logo are trademarks of Opera Software ASA. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Learn more about Opera at www.opera.com.