Facebook to acquire Opera browser

Pocket-lint, a U.K. based technology website reported on Friday that Facebook is looking to acquire Opera Software, which they claim came from a trusted but unnamed source. The Next Web also claimed Opera's management has been talking to potential suitors. Both Opera and Facebook did not corroborate to the stories and refused to comment on Pocket-lint's report.

If Facebook manages to add Opera to itself, it will lead to a new customized browser created to go along with FB. The Norway based Opera is used by about 270 million people every month, and more than 168 million people used the Opera Mini browser in March 2012, according to the company.

Rumor mills were always abuzz with stories of Facebook working on a full-fledged Android mobile OS, and even its own smart phone. This acquisition would involve Facebook in a competition with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari. This move by FB could be seen as a major effort to compete against Microsoft, Google, Mozilla and other internet giants instead being dependent on them.  

Facebook like any other internet information technology company needs to evolve itself for new devices, competing social networks, ever-changing apps, user demands and so on. The report is not fully credible but as two different websites bring up similar stories, we might hear about a new Facebook Opera browser.

Incidentally, as Opera itself is lagging behind in the browser share race, it might see its fortune changing for the better in terms of both, technology and value.