Google Gears support coming to Opera, Opera Mobile

Web apps you can use offline won't be relegated to the desktop if I'm reading this Opera press release correctly. Google Gears, the open-source browser extension that lets you take your online experience offline, is coming to both desktop and mobile browsers via Opera. Opera Mobile 9.5 will get the Gears treatment on handhelds when it arrives later this year.

A simple, real example: I use Opera Mobile 9.5 and Google Gears to pull down all of my unread RSS items from Google Reader. To save battery life on my Windows Mobile device, I turn off the radios and all connectivity, but I read through all my feeds. Hours later, I turn the radios back on and the read actions I took while offline sync back up online to Google Reader so I don't have to read those items again. It's a basic example, but shows that offline - online - data sync feature that Gears support will bring to handhelds in Opera Mobile 9.5. Any web app that uses Google Gears (like Google Docs, Zoho, etc...) could be inserted into the example.

(via Mobility Site)