Search engine giant Google has extended its partnership with Norway’s Opera Software to incorporate Google as the default search engine for the firm’s mobile and desktop browsers which include Opera Desktop, Opera Mobile and Opera Mini for two more years.
The deal, which replaces the agreements entered into on 20 November 2009, is effective through 01 August 2014.
According to Opera, the contract extension includes promotion of various Google products and services in addition to coverage of all global territories.
Google has also signed deals with Mozilla to power search queries in its Firefox browser, and is paying about $300m per year, even though it has its own browser.
During July 2012, Opera had a 1.72% share of the browser market, following Google’s Chrome with 33.81% and Microsoft’s InternetExplorer with 32.04% in terms of global usage.
In terms of mobile usage, Opera tracks Apple’s iPhone browser and Android’s default smartphone browser apps by a small percent.
