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Opera, the latest free browser

In Commentary on 20 September 2005 with 3 comments

Opera is now giving away their Web browser. The unstated reason is, of course, Firefox.

Looking at Opera’s financial reports, I see that last quarter roughly 80% of their revenue was from their products for “Internet Devices” rather than personal computers. Even without any revenue from the PC version of the browser, the company would still have broken even last quarter. Furthermore, looking at past numbers shows that the share of their revenue coming from mobile phones is only going up. This gives the PC version of Opera a fighting chance at remaining relevant in the face of Firefox’s growing market share and Internet Explorer 7 when it’s released.


3 Comments

I had the same questions. I remember the story of Netscape. When Explorer became free, it was literally the end of the Netscape browser.

I also suspect that with really good browsers like Firefox being free, who wants to pay for them? Was it a desperate move by them?

Posted by skumora on 20 September 2005 @ 10am

Given the strength of their browser business for mobile phones, I don’t see it as a desperate move at all.

Posted by Rafe on 20 September 2005 @ 10am

Good Service

Posted by Frank Johnson on 25 December 2005 @ 11pm

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This is the weblog of Rafe Colburn. I'm a software developer and computer book author, but this blog is really about whatever catches my interest on a day to day basis. I've been blogging since December, 1998.

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