Opera browser user growth boosted by iPhone access

Reuters
Friday 28 May 2010 05:30 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Opera Software said its Internet browser for Apple's iPhone was downloaded more than 2.6 million times in April after the Norwegian company got access to iPhone as the first rival browser.

The new platform created 70 per cent of user growth in the month for its Opera Mini product, the world's most widely used cellphone browser.

On 13 April, Apple accepted distribution of Opera's browser for its iPhone after a long review, opening a new and potentially lucrative market it has so far closely guarded.

"A very significant part of iPhone users has at least tried it," Opera co-founder Jon von Tetzchner told Reuters in an interview. "We are also seeing very nice usage."

Opera's browser promises up to six times faster download speeds than Apple's own browser, and to cut data traffic by up to 90 per cent. Massive data traffic from iPhones has caused problems for many operators' networks.

Opera said in its monthly mobile Internet report that mobile browser users totaled 58.9 million at end-April, up 6.6 per cent in a month.

Opera has increased its lead over the iPhone browser in the last few months, and controls 26.7 per cent of the market in May so far, according to Web analytics firm StatCounter.

The iPhone browser and Nokia browser followed with 20.1 per cent and 14.6 per cent of the market respectively.

Mobile Internet usage has boomed since the 2007 introduction of the iPhone, but Opera said global mobile data traffic through its servers grew only 0.6 percent in April from March.

Von Tetzchner said monthly swings in traffic can be large due to holiday seasons and the number of days in a month.

Wireless operators are keen on raising sales from Internet browsing and the social networking boom as revenue from traditional voice calls is declining, but they are facing increasingly congested networks.

This is helping browsers that package data and send only a small amount through wireless networks, like Opera's does.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in