Whenever we write about a new version of Opera, we feel like Top Gear's James May updating the audience on the Dacia Sandero.
Opera isn't a bad browser by any means - quite the opposite - but like the Dacia, it's something foreigners go for while we don't.
Don't believe us? While Opera has Firefox-sized market share in markets such as Russia and the Ukraine, it struggles to reach 3% globally.
That hasn't changed for years, and we very much doubt that the browser's US and Western European market share is going to change with Opera 10 now. So why doesn't Opera just dump the desktop?
The case for dumping the desktop seems solid enough. Now that Firefox has been joined by Safari and Chrome in the fight against Internet Explorer, Opera is almost certainly wasting its time trying to compete.
Opera 10 is a good browser, but so was Opera 9, and Opera… you get the idea. Perhaps the ballot screen on EU versions of Windows 7 will boost the Western European numbers somewhat, but we're not holding our breath.
Time to give up?
The thing is, Opera is an enormous success on everything but the desktop. It's in the Wii and the DS, it's in set-top boxes, it's in Adobe's Creative Suite applications, it's on tens of millions of mobile phones, and when it comes to mobile browsing Opera continues to kick Apple's iPhone arse.
It's all the more galling because Opera is an innovator - and its innovations invariably get half-inched and bashed into browsers with bigger market share.
From tabbed browsing to mouse gestures, anti-phishing to pop-up blocking, Speed Dial to feed reading, you'll find Opera's features baked in to the big browsers or available via add-ons or plugins. Essentially, then, Opera is acting as the R&D department for every browser maker on Earth.
So there we have it. Opera should dump the desktop and spend its time on things that actually make money. There's just one small problem with that. Actually, two. The first is that Opera's mobile versions learn from the technology Opera puts on the desktop, and the second is that desktop Opera is considerably more lucrative than you might think.
If you pop along to Opera's investor section, you'll see that revenues from desktop Opera jumped 93% between Q2 2008 and Q2 2009.
During the quarter, Opera brought in 172.4 million Kroner, of which 44.8 million came from desktop revenues: that's a hefty four and a half million quid, or just over £18 million per year - and as Opera is targeting emerging markets where the IE/Firefox double act is less well established, those sums could well increase dramatically.
We wish our bank accounts were as disastrous as that.
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Your comments (5) Click to add a new comment
mgillespie
October 28th 2009
5. I feel sorry for the idiots that miss out. The integration between the different versions means that having Opera in your desktop is awesome. You add a boomark on your desktop, and it magically appears on your mobile or console next time you start them up. Same for notes speel dials and other stuff.
It's also the most secure, fastest and most widely available (platform-wise).
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paul
September 11th 2009
4. @hectormacias - that's exactly the point of the article.
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hectormacias
September 5th 2009
3. You answer your own question and kill your own argument.
"If you pop along to Opera's investor section, you'll see that revenues from desktop Opera jumped 93% between Q2 2008 and Q2 2009."
So the answer is NO, theres no reason why Opera should ever dump it.
"The case for dumping the desktop seems solid enough. Now that Firefox has been joined by Safari and Chrome in the fight against Internet Explorer, Opera is almost certainly wasting its time trying to compete."
This is what I call a loser's mind.
Why cant people understand the desktop is only a little part of opera's market, they're not interested in the so called "browser wars", opera's vision is to develop one browser core and then be able to adapt it to any platform out there, PCs are just another platform in the list, which is absolutely legitimate business.
Opera is already taking care of the mobile platform, by the way.
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cendana287
September 3rd 2009
2. Hooray for Opera! I've started using it seriously from 2000. I'd move around, but always return to Opera. There's a certain attraction to it that's not present with the others.
However, I must say that I've been using Firefox a lot more - ever since Firefox 3 came out. Now this is a killer! Then there's the extensions, which has features that I just can't leave. But I'd often think of Opera and would use it at the slightest excuse.
The people at Opera who design it, think up of those new things, which were later copied by the others. Remember Tab Browsing? Some reviewer scorned it as "so Windows 3.0". Well, eat your words, for this is the better way to surf.
Best wishes to Opera! Even if only 0.5% of the population uses it, I hope it will continue to survive and do well. Opera is so brilliant that it's a crime should it disappear!
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lamont
September 2nd 2009
1. Good for Opera! I have been using it for 2 years, but I use safari and firefox more. I plan to use it more now because I have to learn the latest update. Hurray for Opera.
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