11:30 AM Opera’s alternative browser: 1 billion served per day

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

July 29, 2010

1 Min Read
Opera’s Not-So-Mini Success

11:30 AM -- Opera Software ASA ’s super-speedy mobile browser has passed a number of milestones, but today’s gives it elite status in the “one billion served per day” club .

The company’s Java ME-based Opera Mini browser has viewed more than one billion pages as of July 25. That means that every second Opera Mini servers compressed more than 11,500 pages to send to its 3,000 phone models across the globe. (See Opera Intros New Mini & Mobile Browsers.)

Opera Mini, which recently shed its Beta tag, has been moving rapidly along this path for a while. It passed 100 million page views for the first time two years ago and grew to an average of 910 million by June 2010, an increase of more than 161 percent from the previous year. (See Opera Mini usage Grows 11% and Opera Launches Mini 5 Beta for Android.)

Considering that Android and the iPhone (Opera is an option on both), and many others, have their own native browsers, it’s significant that so many users are seeking an alternative. It's even more impressive, considering how much stock Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has put in its browser, calling it the most important mobile app it has, although the two are not mutually exclusive. (See Google: Browser Is Most Popular Android App, Opera's Browser on the iPhone? How? Why?, and Opera Mini Launches on Android.)

Opera’s shtick is a compression technology that compresses Web page content up to 90 percent on its own servers before sending it to the device, making it faster for page loading and browsing, as well as cheaper to surf the Net.

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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