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Telecommunications Opera making big profits from free software
Telecommunications Opera making big profits from free software | Opera making big profits from free software |
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| by Stuart Corner | |
| Wednesday, 21 June 2006 | |
  
"For Opera 9, we worked hard to push the limits of what people expect from a Web browser, with increased speed, new Web standards support and innovative features such as widgets and BitTorrent," said Jon Svon Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. Other features include saved sessions, the ability to retrieve closed tabs, notes and the ability to restart at the page where the browser was last closed. Version 9 introduces a security bar to prevent scams like phishing strengthening Opera 9's pop-up blocker to weed out annoying or potentially malicious pop-ups. The browser can also be personalised by changing the look and feel with downloadable alternative skins or altering buttons. Opera Software is a company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange focussed solely on web browsers. Its vision is "to deliver the best Internet experience on any device" and its key business objective "to earn global leadership in the market for [browsers on] PC/desktops and embedded products". Its main business strategy is "to provide a browser that operates across devices, platforms and operating systems, and can deliver a faster, more stable and flexible Internet experience than its competitors". The company started out as a research project in Norway's largest telecom company, Telenor, in 1994, and branched out into an independent development company named Opera Software ASA in 1995. At one time it charged for its PC browser but with just about every other browser on the market available free, abandoned that approach. However despite the fact that its most popular product is free, the company in extremely profitable. For 2004 (the last year for which results have been posted to its web site, in generated a gross profit of around $US14 million on revenues of $US30 million. 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. |
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