I came across this late last year when Opera first started encouraging developers to think widgets in the mobile environment - but the guys over at i-Mode Business Strategy ran with it this week as Opera pushed its recently upgraded mobile browser, Opera Mini, and mobile platform.

Opera's strategy of aiming more in the direction of the browser as a platform for Web applications is certainly in line with what's going on the full-sized browser world -- adding in RSS feed creation capabilities, working more with Ajax to create even more dynamic sites and interfaces to name a couple. Interestingly, Opera is previewing some of this functionality first in the mobile environment before it goes live with such features in a full browser.

The widget approach opens the door to much greater levels of modularity and choice in the way users "build" their mobile applications environment. Widgets also fit nicely with an SMS-based download or exchange economy as they are light, easy to get from server to device, and highly customizable.