The runtime will support the WAC 1.0 specification, Opera said. WAC 1.0 is the first draft of the organization's standard enabling mobile applications to target functionality on the device itself, Opera said.

The alpha release of Opera's widget runtime for Android enables developers to get a head start in building the "next step" in applications for smartphones, Opera said.

"It is a great pleasure for us to present our public implementation of the WAC 1.0 specification and to get developers going," said Christen Krogh, chief developer officer at Opera Software, in a statement released by the company. "Opera is participating in WAC and remains committed to take the WAC platform to the masses."

Widgets are written as Web applications using Web technologies like HTML and JavaScript. Opera Widgets can run in the Opera browser or, in this case, the widget runtime. By using Web standards, widgets are cross-platform, according to Opera.