Opera Software, best known for its PC and mobile web browsers, has acquired California-based rival Skyfire Labs.

Skyfire offers consumers a mobile browser that can handle Flash Video and a variety of other video formats. In addition, its ‘Rocket Optimizer’ software can be used by mobile operators to reduce the size of video and other multimedia material when mobile bandwidth is under demand.

Mobile web browser business Skyfire Labs has raised $8 million in its latest round of funding. Current investors Matrix Partners, Trinity Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners have been joined by Verizon Communications subsidiary Verizon Investments LLC.

Skyfire says it’ll use the funds to meet the demands of wireless operator customers and also to expand into Europe and Asia.

The free Skyfire browser will no longer be supported on Windows Mobile and Symbian devices after the end of this year.

Browser company Skyfire has launched the first mobile browser for the Apple iPhone that offers access to videos designed for the Adobe Flash Player. It converts the videos into the H.264 video codec, which – unlike Adobe Flash – is supported by the iPhone and iPod touch.

Less than six months after launching its Android application, mobile browser company Skyfire says over one million consumers have downloaded the Skyfire mobile browser to their Android phones. Skyfire is currently in the top 0.02% of all products in the Android Marketplace.

Mark Windle, head of marketing at OpenCloud, predicts that this year’s reduction in the number of traditional telecoms operators in some countries will provide an opportunity for other operators to innovate and capture market share in 2016.

He says next year will be a year of rapid change for telecoms… whether it’s MVNO disruption, competitive tariff pricing or simply defence from the ‘dark art’ of hacking.

Mark Bridge writes:

The most memorable moments in life often go unrecorded. You don't have your camera in your hands. Your finger is still hovering over the 'pause' button on your audio recorder. Or you were simply too busy experiencing whatever was happening. It's all about the one that got away.

That's where Kapture can help.

Mark Bridge writes:

James Rosewell shows me a colourful roll of paper that's the width of an iPhone but well over three metres long. When I look closer, I can see it's a printed copy of the Wall Street Journal's mobile website. That's a lot of scrolling to do... and a pretty unfriendly user experience for anyone reading the news online. Why does it work so badly?

The Toshiba Portege G900 smartphone is reviewed, we interview new Extreme Mobile MD John McFarnon, Ian White from Mobile News talks about customer service, we play with Flexis Extreme and we discuss the week’s industry news headlines.

10 things you need to know about the Apple iPhone, an exclusive interview with Unique Distribution's new CEO, industry news and gossip, Ian White's outspoken opinion and a review of the 'phoneAlarm' utility program.

What's happening at Truphone? We talk to the company’s CEO, James Tagg. Ian White tells us about "poaching", and the team review the latest news and views from around the industry, plus review the Sony Ericsson W910i and Spybot Search & Destroy.

The team are joined by Faisal Sheikh of Fone Doctors and Ian White of Mobile News to discuss T-Mobile's rumoured exit from the dealer channel, 3G for all, as well as the rest of the weeks news. They review the O2 Cocoon and debate "Is the mobile internet finally ready for consumers?", and Theme-DIY to customise Nokia series 60s.

The team review the HTC Touch an iPhone contender, debate the question "Are customers getting the mobile services they want?", bring you the latest news and find time to review "Kojak - Detective Puzzles".