Opera Mobile

What a day!! Finally I could send out the press release announcing the Opera Mini users have browsed a whopping ONE BILLION Web pages since the launch in January! I've been in the office since 7 am this morning, the phone's been ringing off the hook, and I have forgotten to eat, drink, hassle my colleague Berit and even go to the bathroom. I love days like this!

So ONE BILLION page views! What does that mean, and is it really that important?

Ooooh, yes.

First of all, the mobile content/entertainment industry and operators have been trying to get people to use data services for years. But the pick-up has been slow, they say. For example, Telecom TV reports that Vodafone has decided to "halt its 3G hype":

Vodafone has done a U-turn and is about to begin downplaying services and applications such as MMS, video-downloads and mobile Web access to concentrate on convincing users of the delights of 3G as a good voice technology.

Also, two recent surveys indicate that "mobile data [is] a big turn-off for consumers".

I don't agree.

In just over six months, Opera Mini has attracted more than FIVE MILLION USERS, who have until now browsed ONE BILLION WEB PAGES. That's spectacular. It means that if the service is something people find very useful, easy and inexpensive to use, they will indeed use it. I am not aware of any Java-based mobile application that has had more success than Opera Mini.

Hear ye, hear ye, operators and content providers
This should be a huge eye-opener to mobile operators and content providers: People don't want to be limited to WAP and expensive walled garden content. They want the full Web and the ability to search, surf and find the info and content they want, without having to pay through the nose to get it.

Operators know this. It's not rocket science (even rocket science is not rocket science, I've heard). But letting their valued subscribers loose on the World Wild Web scares them. Of course it does. Because why would people pay a dollar for driving directions or 50 cents to get someone's number when they can just go to mapquest or the phone book with their browser? The anwser is they wouldn't. And they don't. Not really. That's why Vodafone has decided to "halt its 3G hype". That's why "mobile data is a big turn-off for consumers."

Mobile data is not a turn-off for consumers; Overly expensive, walled garden content is.
Opera Mini has proved that today.

With the traffic that Opera Mini and Opera Mini generates over mobile networks, there is a fortune to be made by the operators. And they can please their customers by providing them with something they want: Low-cost, free Web access on their mobile phones. T-Mobile has understood this, and their Web'n'Walk offering has been a huge success.

Bridging the digital divide
Opera Mini is also very popular in countries where owning a PC is not common. In countries like Bangladesh, India, South Africa and China (and so on), many people can't afford a PC, but many own a mobile phone. With the free Opera Mini browser, the Internet is no longer only for the privileged, but accessible by most people with a mobile phone - regardless of location. Well, almost regardless of location. That means people can access news, information and communicate with friends and family via email only using their phones. There are millions of people in the world who own mobile phones, but who will not able to buy a PC. Not even a $100 dollar laptop with a power-generating handle on the side, as great of an initiative as that truly is.

So, there it is. That's how important today's announcement is. Opera Mini - 1 billion page views. And we have only begun.

Now, excuse me, I really really need to pee.