State of the Mobile Web, October 2009

Last month, we reported that Opera Mini users save approximately 8 billion USD per year on their mobile data bills just by using Opera Mini, a free and easy-to-use mobile browser that compresses data — improving browsing speed and reducing data costs. This month, the amount of data we send to phones increased; this means the total cost savings also jumped — over a billion dollars to 9.4 billion USD saved by our users each year.

But all these billions are large and unwieldy numbers. So this month we have included a simple calculator that shows people exactly how much money they can save by using Opera Mini.

1.6 billion people are online, yet more than 4 billion people — two out of every three people on Earth — have a mobile phone or access to one. By making the Web accessible on mobile devices, we can usher in a communications revolution on an unprecedented scale and pace. Opera Mini is helping to spur this change — potentially affecting the lives of billions — not just by making mobile browsing possible, but by making it affordable as well.

Last month we showed some of the prices people have to pay to access mobile data. Network operators also incur expenses to serve that data. Because Opera Mini compresses data by up to 90%, people can reduce the amount they pay per month for mobile browsing. At the same time, Opera Mini helps network operators better control the cost of serving data.

If we can make the full Web available, fast and easy-to-use on every phone and at a price point that makes it possible for everyone to participate, we as an industry can bring the Web to the next billion people and beyond. I look forward to the day when we can all celebrate these milestones.

Thanks for reading,
Jon S. von Tetzchner

Part 1: Growth

Number of users

In October 2009, Opera Mini had over 39.6 million users, an 11.3% increase from September 2009 and more than 155% compared to October 2008.

Pages transcoded

Opera Mini users viewed nearly 17.2 billion pages in October 2009. Since September, page views have gone up 14.8%. Since October 2008, page views have increased 238%.

Month	Page views
October 2009	17,179,459,019
September 2009	14,958,270,625
August 2009	13,949,154,395
July 2009	12,051,716,351
June 2009	10,447,031,428
May 2009	9,641,002,614
April 2009	8,687,835,336
March 2009	8,627,181,759
February 2009	7,347,728,912
January 2009	7,592,623,125
December 2008	6,418,665,392
November 2008	5,703,580,103
October 2008	5,088,923,679
September 2008	4,533,894,901
August 2008	4,172,941,429
July 2008	3,736,244,111
June 2008	3,224,286,622
May 2008	2,947,979,866
April 2008	2,491,451,387
March 2008	2,429,200,080
February 2008	1,883,751,325
January 2008	1,787,235,674
December 2007	1,558,566,188
November 2007	1,414,205,703

Data consumed

In October 2009, Opera Mini users generated over 263 million MB of data for operators worldwide. Since September, the data consumed went up 16.0%. Data in Opera Mini is compressed up to 90%. If this data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed nearly 2.5 PB of data in October. Since October 2008, data traffic is up more than 233%.

Month	Data transfer (MB)
October 2009	263,245,795
September 2009	226,990,071
August 2009	208,786,577
July 2009	186,996,258
June 2009	168,483,963
May 2009	159,545,769
April 2009	151,023,302
March 2009	148,884,676
February 2009	124,835,298
January 2009	122,005,065
December 2008	103,144,185
November 2008	91,084,753
October 2008	79,167,872
September 2008	70,095,676
August 2008	64,853,884
July 2008	57,824,328
June 2008	50,181,823
May 2008	46,273,165
April 2008	38,264,066
March 2008	35,536,969
February 2008	28,477,270
January 2008	25,437,344
December 2007	21,613,966
November 2007	15,818,999

Part 2: Country snapshots for October 2009

Part 3: Spotlight on Latin America

Top 10 countries snapshot

Part 4: Cost-savings calculator

Based on per MB data costs and the amount of data transferred in each country, Opera Mini users in the top 10 countries save up to 782 million USD per month, or nearly 9.4 billion USD per year.

The following cost-savings calculator allows you to estimate how much money you can save each month by using Opera Mini.

Methodology

The “medium” level of browsing varies depending on which country you select, since the average amount of data served per user varies from country to country. “High” and “low” levels of browsing were set according to each country’s average amount of data served per user, plus or minus 33%. To calculate the average monthly data costs in the top 10 countries, we looked at the top operators in each country and determined how much they typically charge per MB of browsing, and averaged those figures together. The resulting data can be referenced in the September 2009 report.