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One of the killer apps for the iPad is the Safari web browser, which supports full desktop views of web pages on the 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel tablet. But now that Apple has opened the door to competing browsers on its mobile platforms, the folks at Opera plan to introduce a version of Opera Mini for the iPad at Mobile World Congress next week.
Opera already offers mobile apps for the iPhone, iPod touch, and Android phones, among other platforms. But the company has been making noise about the tablet space for the last few months, first teasing an Android tablet browser and then showing off a browser optimized for Windows tablets.
The key advantage Opera Mini has over Safari Mobile is the option to offload the processing of some web content to remote servers. This allows Opera to load pictures and other rich media more quickly over a 3G connection.
Opera’s mobile browsers also support bookmark and password synchronization using Opera Link. That means you can keep your data in sync across multiple mobile devices as well as the desktop version of Opera.