Owners of Windows Phone devices have grown accustomed to having limited options in mobile browsers; the only third party browsers in the Windows Phone Market are based on Internet Explorer, making them more like extensions for the default browser. Things could change with Windows Phone 8 if Opera Software gets its way. Microsoft made a few modifications to the Windows Phone 8 development tools, and Opera Software could port the Opera Mobile and Mini browsers over to the platform.

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According to an interview with WinPhoneLive.ru, Opera Software web evangelist Vadim Makeev said that the company is making plans to port both browsers to the Windows Phone 8 platform once the full SDK is made available.

"Unfortunately, we do not comment on timing. I can say one thing, as soon as the ability to release Opera Mobile/Mini for Windows Phone (SDK in this case) is available, we will immediately do it," Makeev reportedly stated.

"That is a full SDK for developing in C, for which we could use an existing generic code written for all platforms. Not with the current SDK for the Windows Phone platform. As soon as it appears, we are porting Opera Mobile/Mini." Said Makeev.

If it happens, Opera Mobile and Opera Mini would be one of the most important applications to make it to Windows Phone 8. New customers may convert to Windows Phone once they have the option to use the Opera mobile browser. A move like this could also pave the way for other popular applications coming to Windows Phone; the platform would benefit from a growing number of apps.

Don't be too surprised if Opera Mobile and Opera Mini come out as an exclusive for Lumia handsets before they are fully available to the rest of the Windows Phone community.

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