Developers › A Journal from Behind the Trenches

State of the Opera: Q2 2008

September 1, 2008 · by Haavard

The numbers for the second quarter of 2008 were presented today. There isn't much to say compared to the last couple of quarters. Opera is still experiencing rapid growth in all business segments (49% revenue growth on Desktop, 50% for Devices), and profits are soaring. Revenues are expected to continue growing in both the short and the long term. There don't seem to be any signs of anything slowing down. Opera Mini in particular has some impressive numbers to show.

Some highlights:

Profits up ten times or so
Number of Desktop users continues to grow, with an increase of 15% in 2Q08 vs. 4Q07 (20+ million users)
Large increase in Opera Mini revenue streams
Opera Mini has seen a 351% growth in number of users since July 2007 (3.5 million in June 2007, 15.8 million in June 2008)
Opera Mini has seen a 330% growth in the number of viewed pages since July 2007 (860 million in June 2007, 3.7 billion in June 2008)
Opera will be available on a number of different devices, such as Philips TVs, set top boxes, Archos media players
NVIDIA has licensed the Opera Devices 9.5 SDK

It looks like everything is moving in the right direction.

Readers' comments 20

Left under the original article, as archived.

MyOpera team, please fix this!Monday, September 1, 2008 12:34:43 PM
I was hoping for SVG graphs Glad to see things are going well though.

EDIT: State of THE Opera? Isn't it the state of Opera ASA?
TamilTuesday, September 2, 2008 3:09:35 AM
Idan AdarTuesday, September 2, 2008 4:01:58 AM
One thing is sure: Opera software doesn't learn.
They are using webcast software that is not compatible with their own flagship browser.

WTF... Do you just LOVE to annoy your users? ugh!
HaavardTuesday, September 2, 2008 7:35:27 AM
The webcast works fine here. But I'm not sure it's up to Opera Software to decide which software is used since it's handled by someone else.

Oh, and there's only one Opera, THE Opera
MyOpera team, please fix this!Tuesday, September 2, 2008 9:57:21 AM
Originally posted by haavard:

Oh, and there's only one Opera, THE Opera
Google disagrees. When searching for "the opera" without quotes, Opera ASA is the 3rd and 4th link down. However, searching for opera alone finds Opera ASA as the first link.
InvestorTuesday, September 2, 2008 5:03:56 PM
http://www.opera.com/company/investors/finance/

PDF files broken ?. Error message when trying to open them...

* Second quarter presentation (PDF)
* Second quarter report (PDF)
MaulkinTuesday, September 2, 2008 9:18:43 PM
Why is "gogi" depending of the UNIX and LINUX section in the graph(p. 22)?

"a hosted widget solution" means you can run widget without launching Opera? Will we have the opportunity to use it on desktop also? (like prelaunching Opera that way allowing us to use it as a widget platform, sounds good for me as an option )

Anyway, the financial aspect of Opera looks good, thus enabling more dev to work (I hope^^).
HaavardTuesday, September 2, 2008 10:13:46 PM
GOGI just happens to be running on Unix.
MaulkinTuesday, September 2, 2008 11:56:40 PM
First thank you for replying, just few more questions:

Why was the Opera build passing the ACID Test 3 named WinGogi? So are there some MacGogi, SolarisGogi etc?

Just trying to understand the general workin scheme.
Idan AdarWednesday, September 3, 2008 3:45:01 AM
Haavard, sounds like something Opera Core could write about in their empty blog. Tell them to write something...
InvestorWednesday, September 3, 2008 11:42:24 AM
(Installed Acrobat reader 9, now PDF files open. How about a notice on page, as access changed since Q1 ?)

As for *State of the Opera*...

The financial figures look better than the underlying realities. Thus stock price development has been moderate (since IPO).

Yes, Opera MINI is the new star. Also Opera on Devices is progressing satisfactory. And Opera on Desktop is, well, stable (for now). However, the former star, Opera Mobile is disappointing, big time. Only pre-installed on 7,8 million phones in Q2 (page 43). That's same level as 2 years ago. Opera Mobile has failed to take advantage of market growth, suggesting bad management. Hopefully, the new OMobile 9.5 will increase shipments going forward, as pre-installed on popular iPhone challengers. Still no excuse for lousy performance in the past. Time is money.

(Latest news...Opera market cap, cash balance 500 mil. excluded, is down 20% in two days on Google Chrome news. Showing how nervous market is when company underperforms in key business areas ).
Unregistered userWednesday, September 3, 2008 5:43:45 PM
Anonymous writes: Opera Mini is obviously being preinstalled instead of Opera Mobile. That doesn't mean that Opera hasn't taken advantage of market growth. It means that right now, Opera has a different product that's better suited for the market until more phones catch up and get enough juice to run proper browsers. And remember, people are likely to buy less expensive phones in today's market. Funny how a desktop browser apparently affects Opera's share price. This didn't happen when Google's Android, which has a browser preinstalled, was announced. Android is a much bigger threat. Chrome is irrelevant.
InvestorWednesday, September 3, 2008 7:02:23 PM
Well, Opera Mobile is a separate profit center. Strategy and budgets for 2008 are official (see CMD Presentations). The verdict (so far), mission not accomplished...

As for stock market reaction. This is part of the news too :

Google co-founder Sergey Brin said all or parts of the new Chrome browser could be available for mobile devices such as cellphones within a few months... http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=BTPJQKAATGWWMQSNDLOSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=210300117

Opera is in the B2B business in phone, TV and device market, delivering customized sollutions for manufacturers and carriers, in time and with warranty. That's a different ball game, than B2C...

I can't see how Google Chrome can challenge Opera's position in B2B. However, I can see why stock market reacts with... wait and see.
Unregistered userThursday, September 4, 2008 6:01:45 AM
Anonymous writes: Chrome is already available for Android. It just isn't called Chrome. It's using the same engine. All Sergey Brin said was that the existing mobile browser could take on the JS engine and other stuff from Chrome. That's non-news. If Chrome causes people to wait and see because they are considering the impact for the "B2B" market, these people should have done that back when Android was launched.
Unregistered userThursday, September 4, 2008 6:16:40 AM
Anonymous writes: Good luck getting Google to customize your browser for the phone or device you are selling :D
InvestorThursday, September 4, 2008 12:20:16 PM
Google doesn't say what they plan to do, thus surprising many. However, as Google entering browser war is no surprise to Opera (CEO statement), we must presume Opera is prepared. Now we await CSO's (Chief Strategy Officer) plan for further uninterrupted strong growth.

As said, I believe B2B is a different ball game. All other players in the web ecosystem want a share too, and are not going to let Google control it all. I doubt Chrome will have negative impact on Opera revenue stream, going forward. Yes, who wants Google to *customize* their business plan (having read Chrome license agreement).

As for stock market reaction. Daytraders are playing against each other. Name of the game is simply, up or down next hour. Fundamental values are irrelevant. Most traders don't know much about Opera business anyway.

Opera delivered on my expectations in Q2, a profit before tax (PBT) of Nok 25 mil. Going forward I expect PBT to grow by Nok 10 mil. per quarter. Deliver that, and stock price will reach... all time high
MyOpera team, please fix this!Thursday, September 4, 2008 12:57:32 PM
Chrome is already available for Android.
This is not true. Android's browser is not Chrome. Both browsers are built on webkit (the same engine) but they are two distinct source trees and products.
Unregistered userThursday, September 4, 2008 2:51:56 PM
Anonymous writes: Good job ignoring the rest of my comment, fakepage. Here's the rest: It just isn't called Chrome. It's using the same engine. All Sergey Brin said was that the existing mobile browser could take on the JS engine and other stuff from Chrome.
Unregistered userThursday, September 4, 2008 3:17:16 PM
JC writes: So I bought Opera shares for NOK 23 something the other day. Am I bummed out or what, LOL. Yeah, I don't get this. Chrome is a desktop browser, and the desktop version makes up less and less of Opera's revenues as time goes by. And it's not like there's only room for one mobile browser. Even if Google gets 50% market share in the mobile browser market there's always the ones that don't use Google. Wouldn't they be kicking down Opera's doors trying to get a decent browser? If Opera makes lots of money customizing browsers today, why would everyone suddenly stop requesting customized browsers just because Google's out there? I don't get it.
Unregistered userThursday, September 4, 2008 3:24:55 PM
Anonymous writes: Dont think its Chrome itself. Lots of people bought Opera shares because they thought Google would buy Opera. Now that Google made its own browser, they lost faith and sold their shares. Then again, Google already had their own mobile browser, so why would Chrome make it less likely for Google to buy Opera? Yeah, this is why I stay out of the stock market. Its retarded. Makes no sense.