Opera Software Shows Strong Financial Results Q1 2012
When you look closely at the companies producing the top 5 web browsers in the past years, you will notice that there are two underdogs competing with three heavyweights. Microsoft, Google and Apple are billion Dollar companies. Mozilla and Opera Software on the other hand had revenues in past years that came closer to the one hundred million mark.
Opera software has just published the company's financial results for the first quarter of 2012, showing a strong financial gain in comparison to the first quarter of 2011. Operational highlights include:
- Desktop users increased by 11% to 60 million by the end of 1Q12
- Opera-branded Oprea Mini users reached 168.8 million users, up 65% over last year
- Co-branded Opera Mini users reached 31.1 million, up 129% over last year
- Mobile advertising impressions grew by 83% to 86 billion impressions
- Revenue in 1Q12 was $46.9 million, up 28% from 1Q11
- Total operating costs of $34.6 million, up by 19%
- Profit for the period was $6.6 million, up from $4.1 million in 1Q11
Opera Revenue
When you analyze where the revenue is coming from, you notice that the biggest chunks are generated by Opera desktop consumers and Operators. Desktop consumer earnings rose from $12.6 million to $16.7 million in one year's time, while revenue from agreements with operators dropped from $12 million to $10.4 million. Two other strong revenue types are from device OEMS, which rose from $5.8 million to $7.8 million, and mobile publishers and advertisers, where revenue almost quadrupled from $1.7 million to $6.9 million in 1Q12. Opera's stock price rose by 3.93% on the Oslo stock market after the numbers were revealed.
Opera without doubt benefited from the rise of Internet-ready smartphones, and the increase in mobile advertising that naturally went with it.
You can download the quarterly report from the Investor relations page over at the official Opera website.
According to Opera Software, the company's key operational priorities include the following:
- Sign up additional leading operators and grow active users of Opera’s existing and new products and services with existing operator customers
- Grow revenues and users of Opera’s mobile consumer products, particularly on the Android smartphone platform
- Increase revenue from mobile publishers and advertisers
- Increase Opera’s position with top mobile phone OEMs and chipset manufacturers globally to drive greater distribution of Opera's mobile products
- Grow Opera’s desktop user base, particularly in Russia/CIS
- Build on the momentum Opera has with major ConnectedTV manufacturer
- Increase Opera's overall profitability and margins.
Even though desktop is Opera's strongest source of revenue, the company aims to capitalize more on the mobile market. Judging from the impressive revenue growth in mobile advertisement and smartphone use in the world, it is an understandable position.
Closing Words
Opera may not be a multi-billion Dollar company, but it is far from giving up the fight against the behemoths. Its strong quarterly results, and an impressive quarter by quarter growth, show that the company is doing very well in the sectors it is operating in.
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From what I hear, O12 is verly unstable, so I haven’t chanced it yet.
As to exporting mail, why not this: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Import_from_Opera
“Every new unneeded feature brings new bugs and breaks some other feature so now you have a browser with tons of features but non of them works like it should”
Basically sounds like any browser out there.
You should read the Chrome or Firefox forums some time. You are delusional if you think Opera is the only browser that breaks stuff.
Interesting article, especially in that the greatest income comes via the desktop browser.
My advice for O is to sink a bit of that revenue back into the product and get rid of some of the bugs. I would like to recommend O to everyone, and I already install it as the default on all the notebooks I rehabilitate, but I have reservations that I would like to resolve.
Your “serious bugs” are not someone else’s “serious bugs.” Everyone has pet bugs in all software. You should read the Chrome or Firefox forums some time. Same whining there.
Your “advice,” again, is useless because it is a blatant lie. Bugs are actively being fixed in Opera, just like in all other browsers
Opera for desktop has become a joke. Every new unneeded feature brings new bugs and breaks some other feature so now you have a browser with tons of features but non of them works like it should and the one that worked are now abandoned. Opera is clearly following the new global trend to become shinier and dumber. BTW,Opera is my main browser from v5 and i use it because there is no easy (or normal) way to export 3-4Gb of mails so i just hope that this trend will end soon
Oh, but your advice actually is useless. The fact is that they are spending revenue on fixing bugs in the product, just like everyone else. All software is going to have bugs.
Claiming that they are not spending money on fixing bugs is just a lie, and it makes your “advice” completely useless.
Useless to you, perhaps, but I have an ongoing dialog with Opera software about serious bugs that have not yet been fixed. Perhaps my advice will serve as a warning to some who are not prepared to suffer the bugs I have had to.
But I doubt I will convince you, so I will not spend more time discussing this with you. You certainly are entitled to your opinion.
There are lots of bugs in all browsers. No, in all software.
If you actually bother to read their changelogs you’ll notice that Opera is fixing loads of bugs all the time.
So your “advice” is useless because they’re already fixing bugs, just like everyone else.
My advice may seem useless because I did not qualify the severity and persistence of the bugs. But that does not mean that my advice is actually useless.
Good to hear. Opera deserves greater recognition. It’s been my main desktop browser since v2, and more recently on my phone too.
I taught for a moment that you were meaning with “one hundred million mark” Deutsche Mark :-)
More serious I wish that Opera keeps on the fight because I think after Mozilla Firefox Opera is for me a steady number two.