Opera Mini Browser becomes India's third most-popular app with 50 million users

Opera Mini browser has reached 50 million users in India, according to an official press statement from the company. The company CEO Lars Boilesen made the announcement by doing a flash mob at Ambience mall in Delhi. With 50 million users, Opera mini is now the third most popular app in India, behind only WhatsApp and Facebook. In a press statement, Opera said, “In India, the number of Opera’s smartphone users grew by 110 percent over the past year and now account for 50 percent of Opera’s total user base. These users are spread across Opera’s portfolio of browsers, including Opera Mini and Opera’s high-end smartphone browsers - Opera Coast for iOS devices and Opera for Android.” Lars Boilesen, CEO of Opera Software said, “Opera Mini’s famous compression technology, which makes browsing faster and helps users cut down on their data costs, is extremely relevant for India. It feels fantastic to be embraced by so many Indians and I’m confident that India will play a key role in Opera’s global vision of bringing the next billion people online.” The Opera Mini browser supports 13 Indian languages, which are: Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese and Kashmiri. The browser also allows for data compression, which increases speed while browsing, something that is crucial in India given the slow Internet speeds. For Opera to claim 50 million users in India is a big number. It means that out of India’s 117 million smartphone users over 40 percent are relying Opera mini for browsing the web. Plus given that the company has tied up with brands like Celkon, Micromax to ensure that the browser comes pre-installed on many devices, has obviously worked as a strategy, and boosted Opera’s user base in India.