Opera's challenge

The launch of Google Chrome might have fazed some, but not Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software, a Norwegian firm that specialises in Internet browsers. “We, in fact, saw downloads increase by 20 per cent after the launch of Google Chrome, because it gave browsers news space. The biggest problem with browsers is that people are comfortable with what they have on their computers, which is invariably Microsoft Internet Explorer,” he says.

Von Tetzchner has a gameplan to outsmart competition in India. He believes that the mobile phone will be the dominant Internet access device in the country soon and with two browsers, Opera Mini (free) and Opera Mobile (paid), in that space, they have an edge over rivals. “There are 17.3 million active users of Opera Mini, which is the world’s most popular third-party browser, and our statistics show that each user of Mini visits an estimated 260 pages every month. India is one of our largest markets,” he explains. Opera Mini’s USP is that the browser does not load the heavy page—instead the request for the page is re-routed through Opera’s servers in Norway which loads a ‘light’ version of the page for the mobile. “In countries like India where mobile bandwidth is limited, this is an obvious plus,” asserts Tetzchner.

Even on the desktop, where Internet Explorer dominates, Opera feels it offers big pluses over the competition, including Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, particularly in India.

“Where Opera really scores is on supporting old computers with slower processors and operating systems. There are some very easy things that you can do on Opera that can reduce download times in slow-speed environments,” says Tetzchner. He points out that several staples of modern browsing, particularly tabbed browsing, were copied from Opera. With computing spread to a sliver of Indian society, Opera believes that recycled computers could be made viable ‘Internet surfing’ machines in India using its browsers. “You don’t need the latest hardware to surf the Internet, as you would with Chrome or Internet Explorer 8,” he says.

While Opera is keen to make significant inroads into the Indian market, there are still obstacles it has to overcome. Its biggest problem is that of reach, with an employee strength of just 529. The company, though, doesn’t see it as a big hurdle. Says Tetzchner, “In India, we have a significant community that can spread the word. That has worked well in Russia where we have a 20 per cent share.” While browsers are free, Opera has worked out its revenue model.

Opera is a listed company and had revenues of 315.5 million Norwegian Kroner (Rs 246 crore) in 2007 with a net profit of 12.5 million Norwegian Kroner (Rs 9.7 crore). The company has a tie-up with large Internet search companies, which pay a percentage of advertising revenues. Opera Mobile is today fitted as the standard browser in over 120 mobile devices, and manufacturers pay Opera for that—40 million handsets with Opera Mobile were shipped last year. This strategy, the company hopes, will pay off in the long run.

Opera’s USP
Von Tetzchner on why Opera is the ‘best’ desktop browser.

• Mouse gestures: You can use the mouse to surf back and forth
• Caching: Opera loads cache in the memory which prevents frequent page reloads reducing bandwidth demands
• In-built Torrents: Users can download torrents straight from Opera
• Image Options: To reduce bandwidth, users can easily turn off image loading from the browser