The acquisition, announced Friday, was Opera's second significant action in the mobile phone world in recent days. Opera recently acquired mobile ad provider Ad Marvel for about $23 million.
Earlier this month, Opera made its Mini mobile Web browser available for the iPhone after Apple seemed to hold up approval for the browser for weeks. The Mini browser immediately jumped to the top of Apple's download applications.
Norway-based Opera has been fleshing out its mobile phone capabilities and FastMail will give it the capability of improving messaging delivery for several classes of devices ranging from mobile phones and computers to TVs and gaming consoles. The acquisition will also bring about 250,000 users into the Opera fold, provided they agree to shift their accounts to Opera.
Once more focused on desktop users, Opera has broadened its capabilities for mobile phones in recent months. In addition to the iPhone, the Opera Mini browser is available on smartphones running Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile operating systems.
In Australia, the FastMail team told its customers that they can continue their FastMail service without interruption, provided they agree to switch their accounts over to Opera.
Opera's strategy head, Rolf Assev, said the acquisition should be able to enhance the firm's knowledge of Internet-based email. "Because many people will first experience the Web on a mobile device," he said, according to the Reuters news service, "it makes sense to extend our messaging capabilities to all devices."
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