Opera's mobile browser compresses every web page, yet it's free!

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 29 November 2006 00:42

Business IT - Technology

Opera initially charged end users for its browsers, but gave that up in the face of numerous free alternatives. Despite the fact that both desktop and mobile versions are now free, and despite the fact that it must operate intermediary servers to compress every web page accesses by the millions of Opera Mobile users the company is highly profitable.

As iTWire reported earlier this year,  the company has several main revenue sources. It licenses the browser to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Motorola, to operating system owners, such as Symbian and user Interface (UI)/middleware owners, such as Canal+. Since 2003 it has focussed on offering the browser directly to other players that are placed higher in the value chain such as mobile operators.

It also collects revenue from integrated search and shopping bars, and partner companies pay a fee to Opera every time a user users the integrated search or shopping bar. Opera cooperates with a few select partners it feels can contribute value to its product and users. It says that deals with companies like Google, Fast, Lycos, InfoSeek, Yahoo, Amazon, and eBay are showing constant growth in revenues for Opera.

Opera also delivers a full-featured, embeddable version of its desktop browser that can be integrated into a wide range of applications. Adobe and Macromedia are important partners in this segment. And when users subscribe to the premium version of its Webmail service, Opera splits the revenue with Outblaze, the company that operates the service.

The first version of Opera Mini was launched in January 2006 and Opera Software claims it has been taken up by more than eight million users who have downloaded more than two billion web pages.. Cellphone operators "T-Mobile International and Telefónica Móviles, have installed Opera Mini on select handsets in order to offer their subscribers everything the Web can instantly provide, including mobile social networking and personal Web-based services," the company claims. " Content providers such as 4INFO and Mobileplay, are also seizing the opportunity to instantly mobilize online access by distributing Opera Mini."