Originally something of an accidental development as it looked to push its mobile browser, the Opera Mobile App Store is now a serious distribution channel.

It hosts over a million free app downloads daily, while the Opera Mini and Opera mobile browsers run on more than 100 million devices worldwide; and support over 3,000 handsets.

Way to pay

Taking the business to the next step, Opera has signed a deal with mobile billing outfit Bango to bring payments including operator billing and credit card payment to the store.

The service is expected to go live during the autumn.

"Bango is delighted to now provide carrier billing for the Opera Mobile App Store; our second major app store," said CEO Ray Anderson.

"Bango is continuing to develop a number of other significant app store opportunities and our progress gives us confidence that we are well placed to accelerate growth in future periods."

[source: StockMarketWire]