State of the Mobile Web, July 2010
Every month, our State of the Mobile Web Report highlights key trends on the mobile Web. Because of the sheer volumes of data we collect, we can usually say a lot about what sites people like to visit with their mobile phones. Because we do not collect any personally identifiable information, we have a harder time saying who uses Opera Mini.
Over the past month, we have worked hard to gain a better understanding of that user profile. If we know more about who uses their mobile phones to browse, we can make the experience even better. So, we conducted an anonymous survey of Opera Mini users to find out more about who they are. It turned out to be what we feel is one of the most robust surveys ever conducted into mobile Web usage. More than 300,000 people answered the survey, and we present some of the findings in this report.
One of the most interesting observations is that more women than ever are using their mobile phone to get online. Over a 2 year period, the number of male mobile Web users increased 233%, while the number of women on the mobile Web jumped 575%. Interestingly, South Africa leads the way for women using the mobile Web. There, 4 out of every 10 Opera Mini users are female. The United States and Russia are not far behind, with more than 3 in 10.
We believe access to the Web is a universal right and the mobile Web is all about breaking down barriers to access. Seeing more women on the mobile Web, and greater gender equality, is important to ensuring the mobile Web remains the rich tapestry of ideas it is. Further diversity can only improve things for everyone.
Happy browsing,
Jon von Tetzchner,
Co-founder, Opera Software
Highlights
- As shown in Part 1 of the report, Opera Mini saw increases in all three categories of growth in July 2010: unique users, pages viewed and data consumed. In all, 62.3 million people used Opera Mini in July, 29.6 billion pages were served and 4.1 petabytes of operator data were compressed for Opera Mini users.
- As seen in Part 2 of the report, Nigeria dropped out of the top 10 list making room for Kenya — new to the list at position 10.
- In Part 3 of this month’s report, we look at countries in Southeast Asia. The top 10 countries using Opera Mini in that region are Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
- Some numbers: From July 2009 to July 2010, page views in the top 10 countries in Southeast Asia increased by 238%, unique users increased by 205%, and the amount of data transferred increased by 227%
- Growth rates in Southeast Asia: Malaysia and Singapore lead the top 10 countries of the region in terms of page-view growth (1,003.7% and 412.0%, respectively). Vietnam and Malaysia lead the top 10 countries of the region in growth of unique users (328.5% and 242.3%, respectively). Brunei leads the top 10 countries of the region in page views per user, with each user browsing 1,824 pages on average each month.
- Google and Facebook compete for the top spot in several Southeast Asian countries. In Thailand and Laos, Google is #1, followed by hi5 and then Facebook. In Vietnam, where My Opera is very popular, Facebook is not in the top 10 list at all.
- Opera Mini users in Southeast Asia tend to prefer Nokia handsets. That said, the Apple iPhone is the most popular handset used by Opera Mini users in both Singapore and Myanmar.
- In Part 4 of this month’s report, we looked at Opera Mini user demographics in 10 countries.
- Using data from the top 10 countries, we estimated the global ratio of male to female mobile Web users to be 77% (male) to 23% (female). Two years ago, the ratio we reported was 88% (male) to 12% (female). While male users still clearly outnumber female users, females on the mobile Web are increasing at a faster rate — catching up to their male counterparts. Between May 2008 and July 2010, we estimate that the number of male users increased by 233%, while the number of female users increased by 575%. Looked at another way, the percentage of female users nearly doubled (from 12% to 23%) in that time period. This seems to indicate a trend towards greater gender equality when it comes to mobile Web browsing.
- South Africa has the most female users (43.5%) followed by the United States (35.6%), Russia (32.4%), and the United Kingdom (31.5%).
- India has the fewest female users (4.0%), followed by Nigeria (5.4%), China (11.6%), and Vietnam (17.9%).
- Compared to the last time we surveyed Opera Mini users, some significant changes were observed. In Russia, the percentage of female users increased from 12.5% to 32.4%. In China, the percentage of female users increased from 5.5% to 11.6%. In the United States, the percentage of female users increased from 19.4% to 35.6%. In South Africa, the percentage of female users increased from 24.7% to 43.5%. In Ukraine, the percentage of female users increased from 8.5% to 24.2%. In the United Kingdom, the percentage of female users increased from 16.6% to 31.5%.
- Ukraine and Vietnam have the most users under 18 (34.8% and 23.7%, respectively).
- Across the board, 18-27 is still the biggest age group of Opera Mini users. That said, when looking at the previous survey results, one will notice that the under-18 user base in the United States and the United Kingdom grew (proportionally) at the expense of the 18-27 group.
- The United States and the United Kingdom have a lot of users 38 and older (26% and 21%, respectively).
Part 1: Growth
Number of users
In July 2010, Opera Mini had over 62.3 million users, a 4.8% increase from June 2010. Since July 2009, the number of unique users has increased 114.3%.
Pages transcoded
Opera Mini users viewed over 29.6 billion pages in July 2010. Since June, page views have gone up 8.5%. Since July 2009, page views have increased 146.3%.
| Month | Page views |
|---|---|
| July 2010 | 29,679,113,203 |
| June 2010 | 27,350,331,025 |
| May 2010 | 28,325,159,098 |
| April 2010 | 26,311,685,380 |
| March 2010 | 25,898,747,364 |
| February 2010 | 22,055,615,946 |
| January 2010 | 23,356,863,511 |
| December 2009 | 20,719,112,062 |
| November 2009 | 18,814,158,683 |
| 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 |
Data consumed
In July 2010, Opera Mini users generated over 445 million MB of data for operators worldwide. Since June, the data consumed went up by 6.9%. Data in Opera Mini is compressed by up to 90%. If this data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed over 4.1 petabytes of data in July. Since July 2009, data traffic is up 138.1%.
| Month | Data transfer (MB) |
|---|---|
| July 2010 | 445,158,599 |
| June 2010 | 416,406,077 |
| May 2010 | 433,688,140 |
| April 2010 | 398,617,291 |
| March 2010 | 396,171,723 |
| February 2010 | 330,601,107 |
| January 2010 | 337,088,690 |
| December 2009 | 315,150,762 |
| November 2009 | 285,126,819 |
| 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 |
Part 2: Country snapshots for July 2010
Part 3: Spotlight on Southeast Asia
Highlights
- The top 10 countries using Opera Mini in Southeast Asia are Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
- Some numbers: From July 2009 to July 2010, page views in the top 10 countries in Southeast Asia increased by 238%, unique users increased by 205%, and the amount of data transferred increased by 227%
- Growth rates in Southeast Asia: Malaysia and Singapore lead the top 10 countries of the region in terms of page-view growth (1,003.7% and 412.0%, respectively). Vietnam and Malaysia lead the top 10 countries of the region in growth of unique users (328.5% and 242.3%, respectively). Brunei leads the top 10 countries of the region in page views per user, with each user browsing 1,824 pages on average each month.
- Google and Facebook compete for the top spot in several Southeast Asian countries. In Thailand and Laos, Google is #1, followed by hi5 and then Facebook. In Vietnam, where My Opera is very popular, Facebook is not in the top 10 list at all.
- Opera Mini users in Southeast Asia tend to prefer Nokia handsets. That said, the Apple iPhone is the most popular handset used by Opera Mini users in both Singapore and Myanmar.
Top 10 countries snapshot
Part 4: Demographic data
Method
Starting in late July and running over the course of several weeks, we conducted a survey to learn more about Opera Mini users around the world. In addition to collecting user demographic data for this report, the survey sought to quantify various aspects of their online/mobile lifestyle. Those lifestyle issues will be discussed in future reports, but one relevant question is discussed below (as a special preview).
Details
The survey, displayed to Opera Mini users on their handsets, was deployed in 9 languages (Russian, English, Indonesian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, German, Polish, and Japanese). Data was collected from users in 15 listed countries, as well as “other”. The data below is from the top 10 countries according to Opera Mini usage (as of June).
As of 8/10/2010, over 300,000 survey responses were collected.
Highlights
- Using data from the top 10 countries, we estimated the global ratio of male to female mobile Web users to be 77% (male) to 23% (female). Two years ago, the ratio we reported was 88% (male) to 12% (female). While male users still clearly outnumber female users, females on the mobile Web are increasing at a faster rate — catching up to their male counterparts. Between May 2008 and July 2010, we estimate that the number of male users increased by 233%, while the number of female users increased by 575%. Looked at another way, the percentage of female users nearly doubled (from 12% to 23%) in that time period. This seems to indicate a trend towards greater gender equality when it comes to mobile Web browsing.
- South Africa has the most female users (43.5%) followed by the United States (35.6%), Russia (32.4%), and the United Kingdom (31.5%).
- India has the fewest female users (4.0%), followed by Nigeria (5.4%), China (11.6%), and Vietnam (17.9%).
- Compared to the last time we surveyed Opera Mini users, some significant changes were observed. In Russia, the percentage of female users increased from 12.5% to 32.4%. In China, the percentage of female users increased from 5.5% to 11.6%. In the United States, the percentage of female users increased from 19.4% to 35.6%. In South Africa, the percentage of female users increased from 24.7% to 43.5%. In Ukraine, the percentage of female users increased from 8.5% to 24.2%. In the United Kingdom, the percentage of female users increased from 16.6% to 31.5%.
- Ukraine and Vietnam have the most users under 18 (34.8% and 23.7%, respectively).
- Across the board, 18-27 is still the biggest age group of Opera Mini users. That said, when looking at the previous survey results, one will notice that the under-18 user base in the United States and the United Kingdom grew (proportionally) at the expense of the 18-27 group.
- The United States and the United Kingdom have a lot of users who are 38 and older (26% and 21%, respectively).
Lifestyle question
Users were asked “Do you have online friends you’ve never met in real life?”
In general, “yes” responses for this question were relatively common (the lowest rate of “yes” responses was 64.6% of respondents in the United Kingdom), indicating that mobile Internet users tend toward having online friends they have not met in person.
On the high end (more “yes” responses): Nigeria (87.3%), Indonesia (83.7%), and Ukraine (83.1%)
On the low end (fewer “yes” responses): United Kingdom (64.6%), United States (65.6%)
Other formats
- Printable version (PDF, 561kB)
- Opera Mini data sheet (Excel, 29kB)
Related resources
Recent reports
- A quick look at early adopters on Android
- Opera Web Pass insight
- Opera on mobile phones experience record growth
- The top local domains of Europe
Contact
For more information about the State of the Mobile Web report, please contact Pål Unanue-Zahl palu[at]opera.com, +47 2369 2400.
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