The Opera browser is very much like the little engine that could. While it’s not the predominant name mentioned when users get into browser spats — Firefox! No, Chrome! No, Internet Explorer! — judging by Opera’s market share, especially with regards to the mobile industry, they are still very much an active player when it comes to displaying information from the world wide web.
According to Opera management, there are over 100 million users of Opera on their mobile phones, and something in the ballpark of 90 million Opera Mini users. However, Team Opera wasn’t just crowing about current numbers. In their State of the Mobile Web presentation, Opera developers indicated their plans to develop newer versions Opera Mini for Androids, iPhones, BlackBerrys and Symbian.
Want to know about upcoming releases for Opera Mobile and Opera Mini? We celebrate by giving out hints!
However, perhaps the most notable of these announcements has to do with Opera’s intention of developing a version of Opera Mini for the iPad environment. Not only does the Opera team want to increase their market share, they are being environmentally conscious in the process.
From Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software:
Any reduction in resource use, especially in regards to energy, is a welcome addition.
Opera’s claims about the proliferation of their mobile browser technology may seem a little far-fetched, but they do have some graphs to back their claims up:
Are you an Opera user? Have you installed their mobile technology on your device? If so, do Opera’s claims about Mini being less of a battery hog ring true? Considering this writer is not an Opera user, I cannot confirm, nor deny their claims. If you have stories you’d like to share about their mobile browsers, please do so in the comments.
Another thing to consider is, with the Apple’s tablet device already rendering web content — well, besides Flash in its original format — would iPad users be bothered with installing a browser on a device that already has one built in? Sure, having choices is a good thing, but is it even necessary in this instance?
Let us know what you think.
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