Opera, Macromedia join on Mac efforts

Building on its strategy to compete in niche browser markets, Opera Software has signed a deal with Macromedia to collaborate on products for the Macintosh operating system.

Opera, an Oslo, Norway-based browser maker that has managed to eke out a living despite miniscule market share, will provide Macromedia with an embeddable browser. The San Francisco-based software company will integrate the browser into several of its Web development titles for Apple Computer's Macintosh OS.

Macromedia's products include the Dreamweaver Web-authoring and Flash animation tools.

Under the deal, the two companies will write an API (application programming interface) for plugging in Opera as the default browsing technology for Macromedia software.

Opera is working in the shadow of Microsoft's enormous lead in the browser market. Opera targets the embedded browser market for small computing devices and applications such as Macromedia's. It faces stiff competition from AOL Time Warner, which has singled out that market for its own browser comeback with the development of the Mozilla browser.

Opera, whose customer base is heavily European, is also targeting the Asian market. On Monday, Opera announced both a Chinese resale agreement and an upgrade to its Windows browser to fix a number of bugs specific to its Asian-language versions.