For years now, Opera Software's been creating speedy and data-saving internet browsers for consumers, making them available on desktop and mobile devices at no cost. But it doesn't want to stop there. The company, which is responsible for web-browsing products like Opera, Opera Max and Opera Coast, has announced its acquisition of SurfEasy, a firm that focuses on online privacy. According to Senior Vice President of Products Nitin Bhandari, this move isn't just to strengthen the company's portfolio, but also to show its users that it is committed to serving tools that keep their data extremely secure and private. With SurfEasy now a part of Opera, Bhandari says that the goal is to offer features that Opera browser users have requested -- such as encrypting personal information, among other things.
SurfEasy, for its part, is known for providing access to a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service that vows to protect users' online info on computers, tablets and smartphones. That said, at the moment Opera hasn't disclosed how exactly it plans to integrate SurfEasy's technology with its internet browsers or other products, but Bhandari did mention that his team has "very concrete plans" and there are already "synergies on the back end." While Opera claims to have 350 millions users worldwide, that's still not enough to challenge Chrome or Firefox, at least in terms of numbers. Perhaps, the company hopes that it can bring more people into its ecosystem by promising an online privacy-focused future.
[Image credits: Associated Press]
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