Opera Portal News

Today Opera Mini operations begin at the new environmentally friendly Thor Data Center in Iceland that supports many users from Europe, Africa, and Asia.

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The fastest browsing for Android smartphones is now available with Opera's advanced compression technology, great page rendering, and smooth scrolling.

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Today we have some exciting news from Apple -- Opera Mini was officially approved for the iPhone and iPod Touch on April 12, 2010, 20:56:00 UTC.

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Opera Mini market share is rapidly increasing in Africa. There are good reasons for that, and it is an example of positive change that is occurring in Africa now. This article discusses why inexpensive internet access in mobile phones is important in places like Africa.

Africa is a vibrant continent with a great deal of diversity. It is unfortunate that, when an outsider thinks of Africa, all too often the images that are procured are those of poverty, corruption, and the many social problems that have long been widespread in many African countries.

As a youngster, I dreamed that some day, technology that enabled universal and inexpensive Internet access could provide a key tool for people to overcome the problems that African nations are faced with. This technology that I once dreamed of is now becoming reality and is even becoming common.

Perhaps I am optimistic, but I believe that this technology is a very important vehicle for change. Information, knowledge, and innovation are important tools that can be used to overcome core issues that are faced by people living in places like this. The ability to communicate freely and effectively gives average people the ability to fight and overcome corruption and injustices that could be perpetrated by authorities, to enable more just and fair government and business.

It has been said that Africa is in a state of turnaround and is taking charge of its destiny unlike ever before. A key example of this is how mobile telephone penetration has increased from around 10% in 2002, up to 30% in 2007 -- just five short years! It is projected that by 2012, penetration will be greater than 55%.

This is key, because for many in Africa, it is not always easy or practical to get high speed land lines, but it is possible to get a mobile phone that can use data service to access the Internet. It is a leapfrogging of technology, of sorts, where the old technology was never developed, but there is a quick adoption of newer technology.

My Opera member Jon Ogaziechi, from Nigeria writes in his blog: "I reckon, five to ten years ago, Internet access for a majority of Africans was more or less a couple of hours or minutes at an Internet cafe, which was only available in major urban cities... Years later, came the advent of 3G technology... but the majority of Africans still had limited access to the net. But then came Opera Mini; a browser for mobile devices that puts real Web feel into your mobile phone... and the part we love in Africa, it's cheap to use!"

Jon continues: "...to us African users, Opera Mini is more than just another browser. It's a window that allows hundreds of thousands of us connect to the rest of the world, share ideas, views and information. It gives us the opportunity to be heard and be a part of the world wide Web and importantly, it gives us the avenue to learn new things."

This is vital to opening up possibilities for people in developing nations -- an ability to get educational resources where it difficult or too expensive before, and an ability to learn things that can help people improve their lives.

I am very proud that Opera Software can be an important part of this postitive change. Over the past several months we have seen Opera Mini's share in Africa skyrocket to over 70%. Opera Mini is important in such markets because it allows users access to a rich, full Internet browsing experience on even an inexpensive mobile phone, and it can save users a lot of money by reducing data use substantially with its compression technology. The same technology is available in our desktop browser for computers.

It is exciting to think about how things can change for the better in Africa, and how technology such as Opera's is helping to make it possible.

Thanks to Jon Ogaziechi for allowing the use of his article. You may read his original article at his my.opera.com blog here: Opera Mini: Connecting Africa to the Rest of The World!"