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Binaryman
04-17-2010, 12:10 PM
Looks like .mobi is fast being left behind. Or is .Mobi still going to be a significant player in the mobile web?

Friday, 16 April 2010 16:48 UK

Opera iPhone app downloaded a million times in 24 hours


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47659000/jpg/_47659499_all-platforms.jpg Opera submitted its browser app to Apple on 23 March 2010.

Web browser maker Opera topped the iPhone application download chart within 24 hours of releasing its free browser app.
It has been downloaded 1,023,380 times since its launch on 14 April.
It took three weeks for Apple to approve the program, which has already been developed for other mobile phone platforms.
Opera Mini is not the first alternative to Apple's Safari to be developed for the iPhone.
German developer Alexander Clauss launched an iPhone browser application called iCab in May 2009.
"It is probably the first well known PC browser to become available on the iPhone," said Forrester analyst Ian Fogg.
"There's no Firefox, no Internet Explorer - and there's not likely to be because of the development environment," he added.
"An app has to be written especially for a particular phone to offer a high quality experience. On many mobiles the browser provided with the phone is the only choice someone has."
Opera has not developed a separate app for the iPad but says the iPhone program will also work on Apple's new device.
Chief development offer Christen Krogh told the BBC that Opera's business model is similar to that of a traditional search engine, with revenue coming from affiliate deals and advertising rather than from the user.
"The web is still a place to make big bucks," he said. "Online ads are lucrative and that's growing on mobiles. The mobile ecosystem is becoming more like the web system."



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8625883.stm

Scandiman
04-17-2010, 02:59 PM
Looks like .mobi is fast being left behind. Or is .Mobi still going to be a significant player in the mobile web?
...

Opera iPhone app downloaded a million times in 24 hours...

I don't see mention of TLD's in your post. Why are you concluding this is somehow bad for .mobi?

I look at this story with excitement, it shows the significant demand there is for mobile web and I'm in the business of providing mobile web content. I wish I didn't have to now test with the Opera browser on the iPhone but that's how it goes.

keithmt
04-17-2010, 03:32 PM
The opera app sucks, plain and simple. Safari is way better to use IMO. Opera is bad for the mobile web because it offers users an even worse way of mobile Internet access than safari. Talk about turning folks off :(

Scandiman
04-17-2010, 04:32 PM
The opera app sucks, plain and simple. Safari is way better to use IMO. Opera is bad for the mobile web because it offers users an even worse way of mobile Internet access than safari. Talk about turning folks off :(

So there are a million disappointed Opera app users today? It's good they have the native Safari to fall back on.

newdomainer
04-19-2010, 08:41 AM
I don't see mention of TLD's in your post. Why are you concluding this is somehow bad for .mobi?

I look at this story with excitement, it shows the significant demand there is for mobile web and I'm in the business of providing mobile web content. I wish I didn't have to now test with the Opera browser on the iPhone but that's how it goes.


So there are a million disappointed Opera app users today? It's good they have the native Safari to fall back on.

I can only agree with scandi on this one... the appearance of mobile browsers demonstrates that the demand is there, just as with the desk-top web; there are browsers that many of us wouldn't touch with a barge-pole, that won't change! ;-)

keithmt
04-19-2010, 11:31 AM
Scandi I don't know about a million but many! I read several user reviews and the majority were negative. I believe it was rated 3 of 5 stars which leaves room for improvement. I noticed you lose features when using opera vs safari. An example would be having to scroll back to the top of pages, while safari allows one touch and zooms you back to the top.

I promptly deleted it!