Opera platform was not running modern mobile touchscreen apps a decade ago. The problem is that the phones currently dominating the market in developed countri

Opera platform was not running modern mobile touchscreen apps a decade ago. The problem is that the phones currently dominating the market in developed countries have native apps, with slick interfaces - enabled by mid to high end SoCs. Trying to produce vaguely similar experiences with low-end SoCs is going to be very hard, even without the additional handicap of doing everything with web technologies. If anything, the only way that could've worked in the current market is on ultra high-end phone hardware, and with a focus on privacy & security to attract the rich & technically savvy end of the market.