A look ahead at Opera 2006

As we’re counting down the final days of 2005, let’s take a peek ahead at Opera 2006.

Let’s start with a topic that’s probably on the forefront of most Opera users, the Opera market share. The Opera browser has been around for more than 10 years already, and all it mustered out was about 1 percent of the browser market share. Opera has taken many initiatives to increase its market share this past year, with its biggest one, no doubt, by removing the ads from the browser.

When Opera decided to remove the ads earlier this year, I was asked by a reporter to give an estimated time of when Opera would have a similar percent of the market share as what Firefox had at that time. Sadly it appears to me that I will be far off from my estimation. My opinion was published in an article, though I won’t say who published it.

Opera’s user base is growing, but not as fast as we would like it. I hope that Opera won’t be like Apple computer, which has been hovering around the same small (but devoted, like Opera) user base for what seems like ages.

Opera will be working hard on increasing its user base over the next year. I’ve been told that Opera is working on a new campaign towards bringing mass-market adoption to its desktop browser.

The focus of the new campaign will be on simplifying Opera’s message for the mass consumer. Opera will focus more on the value of features than the features themselves. You may not care about the yellow security bar, but you do care that Opera will protect you from identity theft. You don’t care about zoom, you want to see the page better. Those will be some of the more apparent tweaks.

It appears that Opera is also trying to establish more of a presence in the US market. It has opened multiple offices here (in the US) and is currently looking to hire some marketing people. This probably won’t affect the desktop market, but the mobile market should see a boost as a result. Currently Opera’s main user base is in Europe.

One thing I would definitely like to see in the coming year is the Opera browser being shipped together with Windows by PC manufactures. Other alternative browser, such as Firefox and Netscape, are already pre-installed by some manufactures; I certainly hope Opera is next.

Now that there is an increased awareness of alternative browsers, I believe that the Opera browser will have less of an issue with broken sites.

In coming year version 9 of Opera will be released, which will contain many new and important additions.

Opera will also be releasing a version of its browser for the Pocket PC for the first time ever. Pocket PC users have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The PocketPC version is expected to be released in January.

Opera Mini will also make it official debut in January. Opera is putting in a lot of money and marketing into making Opera Mini a huge success. The launch of Opera Mini is very different, and more challenging, than a launch of the desktop browser. I’ve been in touch with the people who are working on the marketing side of Opera Mini, and they are very much aware of the challenges that lie ahead to get Opera Mini out to the masses.

The mobile market seems to be the brightest for Opera, as it already has a solid foothold in that market. I expect to see Opera’s growth with its mobile browser increase substantially.

Here at Opera Watch I’m working on some big changes, for the better (I hope), though it would be premature for me to talk about the details now.

I deeply appreciate your dedication and loyalty, and thanks for your continued support. You can continue to count on Opera Watch for the inside scoops and latest buzz on the Opera browser.

Looking forward to Opera 2006.

Slashdot to interview the man behind Opera

Slashdot is soliciting questions for an interview with Opera’s CEO Jon von Tetzchner.

Every so often Slashdot solicits questions for an interview; its editors select the top 10-12 questions.

I’d be curious to see the kind of questions the slashdot community comes up with, it has a reputation of being anti-Opera. When I was slashdotted last week, most of visitors coming from Slashdot were users of the Firefox browser, according to the server logs.

I found slashdot’s post kind of interesting. See below.

From Slashdot:

Opera Software has gotten all kinds of media play lately, including rumors that both Google and Microsoft were buying the company. Whether you love or hate Opera, you’ve got to give them credit for building a decent browser and grabbing a small but noticeable market share in the face of competition from both MSIE and Firefox.

Co-founder/CEO Jon von Tetzchner is obviously responsible for at least some of this success — and for much of the company’s high press profile, due not only to the Opera Browser itself but to at least one whacky PR stunt and at least one high-profile beef with Microsoft. So who is this guy? Ask and find out.

He’s obviously not your typical software company CEO, so we don’t expect typical CEO-type answers from him.

On a side note, Priya Ganapati over at Red Herring Magazine had a Q&A session of her own with Opera’s CEO.

Happy Holidays from Opera Watch

Happy Opera holidays to all of my fellow Opera Watch readers.

Photo courtesy of Opera Software.

Is Opera looking to be bought?

I was just talking to a reporter, who brought up an interesting point regarding all these rumors of Opera being acquired by larger companies.

The issue isn’t whether Google or Microsoft was looking to buy Opera, but rather whether Opera is looking to sell itself. What is Opera’s strategy? Do they want to remain independent and grow the company? Or sell to some other company?

I have spoken to a few top Opera insiders over the past week, and the feeling that I got was that Opera is not shopping itself around. One insider told me “Opera is his baby” (referring to Opera’s founder and CEO) he would never sell it no matter the dollar size.

Opera CEO emphatically denies Microsoft takeover

In an email this morning, Opera’s CEO, Jon von Tetzchner, emphatically denied any takeover by Microsoft, saying “Just for the record: We are NOT about to sell out to MS.”

Next company to acquire Opera?

Given the recent surge in acquisition rumors (first Google, and now Microsoft), I thought it would be nice to see which company Opera Watch readers think will be in the next rumor claiming that it will purchase Opera.

• Yahoo (Yahoopera)
• Apple (Appera)
• Nokia (Nopera)
• McDonald’s (McDopera)
• Other

Vote here.

Rumor Control: Microsoft not buying Opera

I have received several emails today from Opera Watch readers telling me about an article on CoolTechZone reporting that Microsoft bought Opera.

The article has been slashdotted, so I didn’t have a chance to read it, however, Slashdot is quoting Opera’s Berit Hanson “last week it was Google, this week it’s Microsoft. If I was working for Microsoft I think I’d know it, but I’m still in Oslo, not Washington, still working for Opera.”

This all started yesterday when John Dvorak wrote a commentary suggesting that for Microsoft to reclaim its momentum in the browser market it should buy Opera.

I happened to speak (by phone) with Microsoft’s Robert Scoble last night, who told me that it would be extremely unlikely for Microsoft to buy Opera. He told me that if this were to occur it’s likely that the US Justice Department would view this as a monopoly, and block the purchase.

Opera’s phones have been ringing off the hook today, by the press seeking comment about this rumor.

New Year's Opera Ad in Times Square Finalized

Opera has chosen one lucky Opera user to have his photo displayed on the gigantic ABC SuperSign in New York’s Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

The lucky person: Dan Alexandru (aka dantesoft) from Romania. Read his (interesting) submission here. Dan, you had my vote. For those of you who don’t know Dan yet, he is very active on Opera’s IRC channel (where I usually hang out), always helping people out with Opera support.

His picture will be part of a video tribute to Opera users as part of Opera’s 10th anniversary. Starting on December 26 and climaxing on New Year’s Eve, the video tribute will be on rotation at least nine times a day for a whole week.

Dan (dantesoft) pointed out to me that my picture also made it to the video (see screenshot below).

I don’t know if I will make it to Times Square for New Year’s Eve, if any of you are planning on being there, please contact me. I would love to get some pictures of Times Square with all the crowds and the Opera video in the background.

Watch the video.

Me (Daniel Goldman) with other Opera users in an ad in Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2006

Dvorak: Microsoft should buy Opera

John Dvorak (bio), from PC Magazine, suggests that for Microsoft to regain momentum in the browser business, it should ditch the entire Internet Explorer and buy Opera.

From his commentary:

“But could Microsoft be planning a bigger surprise for everyone? The smart move for the company would be for Microsoft to discard the entire code base of Internet Explorer and buy the Opera browser (from Norway) outright and use it instead.”

“Microsoft could buy the whole company for less than $400 million. It paid that much for WebTV and has little to show for it.”

“If this [were to happen] (happening), the biggest loser might be Mozilla Firefox since many consider Opera to not only be the best browser available, but the fastest and the one with the best page rendering engine.”

The chances of this ever happening are slim to none. As a source within Opera told me last week that there have been offers to buy Opera before by big companies with big budgets and no matter the offer, the CEO has turned them down. “Opera is his baby”.

It would be interesting to see, if this were to ever happen (big if), what the Microsoft haters would think about this, and whether they would stop using Opera.

Last week there was talk that Google might buy Opera, which Opera vehemently denied.

A look back at 2005

As the final days of the year 2005 slowly fade away, I thought it would be nice to pause and look at the big happenings of 2005 in the Opera world, both the good and bad as well.

Here are some that I compiled:

• Opera 8 released with overwhelming response
• Opera boss takes a dip
• Controversy over Opera’s PC World award
• Opera announces it will stop spoofing its User Agent as IE
• Opera adds support for Bit Torrent
• Opera introduces Opera Mini: A web browser for virtually all mobile phones
• Opera Goes Ad-Free
• New Opera Community Site Online

No doubt, Opera going ad-free is by far the biggest Opera headline of 2005. I think Opera’s CEO would agree with me on that as well, after all he said “I hope 2005 will be remembered, not as the year of my overly optimistic attempt to swim to the USA, but as the year the Opera browser went free”.

This year has been an exciting year for the Opera community, we have seen an increased awareness in alternative browsers; and now with Opera having removed the banner ads, it appears the perception of Opera by many has changed for the better.

Some of the Opera lowlights of 2005 include the release of many popular products/services by Google that weren’t immediately supported by the Opera browser; Opera was a bit slow to add support for AJAX. Also the controversy over Opera’s PC World award created some negative press towards Opera, though I think Opera handled it professionally.

Overall, however, Opera has had a positive year. We have seen a boost in the interaction between Opera (the company) and the Opera community; the new community site contributed to this a lot.

Opera has managed to keep a good record on security, compared to other major browsers, including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox; it had the fewest security vulnerabilities according to the independent security firm Secunia.

I don’t have the exact numbers to show it, but I would think it’s safe to say that Opera has attracted many new users to its desktop browser. More than 1 million users downloaded the Opera browser in the first 48 hours since it went ad-free; and according to Opera’s server logs a majority of downloads came from Internet Explorer users.

The average daily download rate of the Opera browser for the desktop has more than doubled since going ad-free, compared with the previous rate of before the release of Opera 8.5. The current download rate of the desktop browser stands at 80,000 – 100,000 per day.

One notable area where we haven’t seen much of an increase is Opera file size, despite all the new features added.

What are some of your Opera highlights (and lowlights) of 2005?

P.S. Coming soon… A look ahead to 2006.