Dhaka, May 11 (bdnews24.com) — When Opera CEO says the company has lived up to its vision to get every possible device connected to the web, he is nearly right.
And why not! "…the raw number of users…more than 100 million all over the world each month," says a spirited Lars Boilesen.
Indeed, Opera Mini is now the most widely used web browser in the world. And it is free.
What's more, with a contract signed with Grameenphone to launch a co-branded Opera Mini, available to GP subscribers since Apr 5 with a seven-day free trial and free download, Bangladesh is on its way to joining the global Internet community.
"We believe that access to the Internet is a universal right. That is why one of our highest priorities is the education of Bangladeshi people, so that they can get the most out of their resources in terms of communication," Boilesen told bdnews24.com in an interview.
"The web is one of the great inventions of mankind and Opera Mini makes it possible to participate without having an expensive computer and broadband connection," he added.
The secret to Opera Mini's success is OBML (Opera Binary Markup Language) — the cell phone-friendly low-cost markup language that the browser uses for all pages. Any page requested by the user is compressed at Opera's server and transformed to OBML before sending it to the phone.
The process makes browsing two to three times cheaper and faster.
"At Opera, each new handset on the market represents a challenge, a possibility to reach new customers all the time," said the Opera CEO.
"We are driven by the company vision; to be present on all possible connected platforms and to get people online to participate on the web."
The Opera team draws inspiration from amazing experiences, some about a farmer in Africa using Opera Mini to get information on crops, or a person finding a long-lost friend through use of social networks on his phone.
Compatibility and outreach remains the Opera team's priority, says the CEO. While recently Opera launched Opera Mini 6, the newest version of the browser, it also launched an updated version of the Opera Mini 3 Basic.
The Basic version runs on even more basic phone models and features largely the same functions as Opera Mini 6.
Visiting m.opera.com, a user is guided through a simple system to the optimal version for his phone.
"We are continuously working hard to expand the language base of all our products, even as we speak," Boilesen assured.
Bangla websites are readable in all versions of Opera Mini. In case the phone does not support Bangla fonts, one simply has to enable complex bitmap scripts to be processed in the Opera server.
"In our experience, people all over the world want to participate in social media activities, search to expand their knowledge and have access to the same web, no matter what platform they are using," Boilesen said.
The Opera CEO hoped the Grameenphone agreement would bring about even more growth of Opera Mini users in Bangladesh.
bdnews24.com/sh/nir/2240h.
