Haavard

State of the Opera: Q4 2008 - more Desktop growth

Friday, 27. February 2009, 12:54:30

In the financial results for the 4th quarter of 2008, you will notice that it's the same old story: Growth across the board, and record profits. Desktop revenue increased by a massive 117% compared to the same quarter last year because of more users, higher ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), and a weaker NOK compared to other currencies. And once again, the management is expecting further growth both in the short and long term.

Total revenue up 69% since Q4 2007 (up 58% total in 2008 compared to 2007)
Desktop revenue up 117% in Q4 2008 compared to Q4 2007 (up 73% in 2008 compared to 2007)
Desktop user count up 67% since the end of 2007, and 17% compared to Q3 2008
20 million monthly Opera Mini users in January 2009, up over 160% compared to January 2008, and up from 17.6 million users in December 2008
Opera Mini data traffic up 350% in January 2009 compared to January 2008 (operators have made more than 5.9 billion NOK off of Opera Mini per year)
Mobile/Device revenue up 56% since Q4 2007 (up 53% in 2008 compared to 2007)
Opera now has 675+ employees in 10 countries

I have no doubt that the management is right when they predict continued growth, both in the short and long term. They certainly seem to have gotten it right so far. In the presentation (check the webcast), there were even hints about some interesting deals that are to be announced in the coming months.

Edit: An interesting note on Opera Turbo is that our CEO has stated that an end-user release is being considered.

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Comments

Investor # 27. February 2009, 13:12

indeed. good job. congrats

(hmm... pre-installed OMobile down from 10 to 7 mil units. thats not growth across the board though

)

fammcdon # 27. February 2009, 13:21

Chas4 # 27. February 2009, 13:48

Tamil # 27. February 2009, 14:06

haavard # 27. February 2009, 14:57

Investor: Opera Mini and Opera Mobile complement each other. Remember, the market isn't doing too well in general, so people probably buy cheaper phones, and operators probably prefer browsers that can save them a bit of money. Opera Mini is perfect for both of these. With Opera Turbo, Opera Mobile might become quite tempting. But with no compression, a full mobile browser can put a strain on operator networks, and users may not get a good experience unless they are on a WiFi connection or a perfect high-speed mobile connection.

But wait and see. It will all become much clearer later this year.

lsaplai # 27. February 2009, 18:12

Good stuff for Opera. Note to self: buy Opera shares.

Now for the funny part: the webcast crashes Opera! (using Version 10.00 Internal Build 4126, Platform Linux, System i686, 2.6.27-11-generic, Qt library 3.3.8b)

do I need to use Firefox to watch it?

YtseJam # 27. February 2009, 19:11

Doesn't really work on Opera Mac either...

sms985 # 27. February 2009, 21:07

1+ for Opera Turbo for end-users!!! I would love using opera mobile, but it's just too slow without 3G coverage

haavard # 28. February 2009, 13:19

The webcast should be working fine, though Opera can't help if plugins crash. But please don't discuss this in the blog. Post in the forums instead if you are having problems.