State of the Mobile Web, January 2013

Opera Web Pass insight

In 2012, Opera Software launched Opera Web Pass, a new, more straightforward way for mobile users without all-you-can-eat data plans to connect to the web. In this State of the Mobile Web report, we take a first look at how this intuitive way of getting more people online is faring.

With Opera Web Pass, the users are free to choose among different internet-access packages, e.g., 1-hour unlimited Facebook or 24-hour unlimited internet access, right from the browser. Package selection is easy, with a process that is similar to purchasing an app, and the web pass is charged to the user’s phone bill.

The first mobile operator to offer Opera Web Pass to its users, DiGi Telecommunications Malaysia (“DiGi”), is already starting to see significant benefits from this new way of getting users online. DiGi experienced a big increase in its mobile internet user adoption after introducing Opera Web Pass and has since launch of the service seen substantial amounts of repeat purchases.

Some highlights from the DiGi deployment:

• Many customers returned to buy similar web passes; up to 52% of all Opera Web Passes in any given month were bought by returning customers.
• Web passes in Malaysia sell well in all flavors, from as low as RM 0.50 (0.15 USD) for an hour of Facebook to RM2 (0.65 USD) for a full 24-hour access to the internet.
• By incentivizing use through a free Facebook hourly web pass for the entire month of January DiGi managed to increase the uptake of paid web passes significantly. This resulted in an average revenue increase of 56%, and a 65% increase of the average number of transactions per day, compared to the revenues before the promotion drive.
• There has been a very low checkout-abandonment rate and an overall checkout success of more than 77% among users with sufficient funds.
• The most popular web pass is one that provides customers with time-based, unlimited access to Facebook.

With Opera Web Pass, even more users with internet-capable phones can now enjoy the web, including customers who have limited budget available to commit to a monthly data plan.

With a simple, understandable packaging of mobile internet access, it’s evident the proposition lowers the entry bar for using mobile internet, resulting in high user satisfaction and a large amount of repeat purchases of Opera Web Pass packages.

For customers in many countries, purchasing a data package can be a very complicated and task, a factor that could be holding back aspiring mobile internet users from getting online. Opera Web Pass helps users find a suitable data package, and discover the web.

For operators, Opera Web Pass opens up a new, optimized retail channel to sell and promote data in a dynamic, targeted and user-friendly way. Opera Web Pass is a complementary proposition to the already existing data plans offered by the operators.

To learn more, download the DiGi Web Pass case study (PDF).

Growth

In January 2013, the consumer base of the Opera Mini and Opera Mobile browsers increased in unique users. In all, more than 237 million people used Opera Mini or Opera Mobile in January. The Opera Mini servers (which do not process pages from Opera Mobile browsers) served more than 157 billion pages and compressed over 12 petabytes of data for Opera Mini users. More than 32% of the total users of Opera Mini and Opera Mobile are using smartphones to browse the web. Compared to January 2012, the total number of Opera Mini and Opera Mobile users grew more than 29% year over year.

Number of mobile product users

In January 2013, there were over 237 million Opera Mini and Opera Mobile users. Out of this number, more than 22 million were Opera Mobile users, and the rest were Opera Mini users. Compared to January 2012, Opera Mini and Opera Mobile combined grew more than 29% year over year.

Month	Opera Mini	Total users
January 2013	215,229,494	237,253,630
December 2012	207,782,057	229,231,788
November 2012	195,466,306	215,860,590
October 2012	194,028,420	215,404,124
September 2012	187,528,635	207,194,837
August 2012	190,999,377	209,908,472
July 2012	187,147,324	205,770,416
June 2012	182,464,716	200,350,248
May 2012	178,525,801	196,186,735
April 2012	165,516,827	189,631,504
March 2012	168,844,460	193,009,533
February 2012	160,016,472	183,714,665
January 2012	159,033,038	182,787,117
December 2011	152,651,224	175,940,168
November 2011	144,601,830	166,574,676
October 2011	140,001,098	161,863,689
September 2011	131,319,238	153,031,280
August 2011	128,004,536	149,726,810
July 2011	121,789,463	143,247,132
June 2011	115,058,129	136,220,211
May 2011	113,511,756	134,760,861
April 2011	107,159,911	128,275,809
March 2011	102,488,824	123,389,860
February 2011	89,813,250	110,370,647

Opera Mini pages transcoded

Opera Mini users viewed over 157 billion pages in January 2013. Since January 2012, page views have increased by more than 44%.

Month	Page views
January 2013	157,322,672,762
December 2012	143,737,439,846
November 2012	130,919,408,010
October 2012	126,783,439,403
September 2012	116,255,078,302
August 2012	122,366,916,411
July 2012	116,520,625,707
June 2012	115,070,847,433
May 2012	113,788,248,994
April 2012	109,172,778,122
March 2012	117,133,940,573
February 2012	108,322,127,981
January 2012	108,711,984,250
December 2011	103,156,318,112
November 2011	88,516,536,629
October 2011	86,241,891,002
September 2011	79,164,254,190
August 2011	79,594,255,478
July 2011	74,078,891,600
June 2011	67,303,912,324
May 2011	63,386,735,162
April 2011	57,935,683,078
March 2011	59,768,735,532
February 2011	51,531,490,158

Opera Mini data consumed

In January 2013, Opera Mini users generated over 2.9 billion MB of data for operators worldwide. Data in the Opera Mini browser is compressed by up to 90%. If this data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed over 12 petabytes of data in January. Since January 2012, data traffic has risen by 59%.

Month	Data transfer (MB)
January 2013	2,914,441,676
December 2012	2,776,891,471
November 2012	2,446,573,554
October 2012	2,406,128,070
September 2012	2,216,054,026
August 2012	2,215,469,446
July 2012	2,109,653,045
June 2012	2,015,528,597
May 2012	1,983,411,220
April 2012	1,906,598,921
March 2012	1,918,118,366
February 2012	1,916,961,696
January 2012	1,831,047,506
December 2011	1,663,600,099
November 2011	1,421,897,839
October 2011	1,360,336,480
September 2011	1,251,149,418
August 2011	1,232,303,979
July 2011	1,170,603,288
June 2011	1,068,360,258
May 2011	1,031,183,476
April 2011	954,840,197
March 2011	946,210,968
February 2011	790,192,801