The impact of the iPhone

In just two weeks since its release, the iPhone is already the third-most popular handset for Opera Mini users worldwide, according to Opera’s State of the Mobile Web Report. The release of the iPhone also portends changes to the top 10 list. According to preliminary numbers, the United States may soon have the fifth-most Opera Mini users, displacing Nigeria, South Africa and Ukraine on its ascent up the list.

Opera’s State of the Mobile Web Report, published monthly, provides information on the top global trends affecting the mobile Web. The full report is available from http://www.opera.com/smw/ (English only). In addition to a short preview of the iPhone’s impact, the report highlights global statistics, reviews the mobile browsing trends in the European Union (EU) and includes a look at worldwide handset metrics.

Global trends

• In March 2010, Opera Mini had over 55.2 million users, a 9.3% increase from February 2010 and more than 140% compared to March 2009.
• Those 55.2 million people viewed more than 25.8 billion pages in March 2010. Since February, page views have gone up 17.4%. Since March 2009, page views have increased 200%.
• In March 2010, Opera Mini users generated over 396 million MB of data for operators worldwide. Since February, the data consumed went up by 19.8%. Data in Opera Mini is compressed up to 90%. If this data were uncompressed, Opera Mini users would have viewed over 3.6 petabytes of data in March. Since March 2009, data traffic is up 166%.
• The top 10 countries for Opera Mini usage in March 2010 were: Russia, Indonesia, India, China, Ukraine, South Africa, Nigeria, the United States, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. The top 10 remains unchanged from the previous month.

iPhone impact preview

• Following the launch of the iPhone in mid-April, this month we preview some of the initial data from Opera Mini’s release on the iPhone. These preliminary numbers will be reviewed in greater depth when we publish April’s numbers next month.
• The Apple iPhone is currently the #3 device used by Opera Mini users worldwide. All the other top 20 devices are Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets.
• The Apple iPhone is currently the #1 device used by Opera Mini users in the United States, well ahead of BlackBerry (which previously occupied the top spot).
• Next month’s top 10 countries may be in for a change. By mid-April, due to the iPhone launch, the United States jumped from #8 to #5 in the top 10 countries list.
• Out of the top 10 countries according to Opera Mini usage, the United States and the United Kingdom are the two countries where the Apple iPhone has become the #1 device used by Opera Mini users. Beyond the top 10 countries, Australia, Korea, Canada, Germany and Japan are other examples of places where the iPhone has become the device of choice for Opera Mini users.

EU trends

• This month’s report also looks at mobile Web trends in the European Union (EU). The top 10 countries using Opera Mini in that region are the United Kingdom, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Netherlands and Finland.
• Some numbers: From March 2009 to March 2010, page views in the top 10 countries of the EU increased by 82%, unique users increased by 60% and data transferred increased by 71%.
• Growth rates in the EU: Slovakia and Germany lead the top 10 countries of the region in terms of page-view growth (139.7% and 120.8%, respectively). Italy and Romania lead the top 10 countries of the region in growth of unique users (140.4% and 121.4%, respectively). Romania leads the top 10 countries of the region in page views per user, with each user browsing 361 pages on average each month.
• In the EU, among mobile Web users, Google is at the top of the rankings in 9 out of the top 10 countries. In the Czech Republic, Google is number 2 (behind Seznam).
• Opera Mini users in the EU generally prefer Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets, with a couple of LG and Samsung phones occasionally showing up in the handset rankings.

Global handset trends

• In Part 4 of the report, we look at look at handsets around the world and rank them according to unique users of Opera Mini, downloads of Opera Mini, and page views per user on each device.
• Nokia dominates download and user metrics, while Sony Ericsson users typically browse the Web more actively with their phones; Sony Ericsson phones lead in the page-view-per-user metric.
• The top 10 handsets for Opera Mini unique users are (in order): Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, Nokia 6300, Nokia 2700c, Nokia N70, Nokia 5310 XpressMusic, Nokia 3110c, Nokia N73, Nokia 2330c, Nokia 5800d, Nokia 6700c
• The top 10 handsets for Opera Mini downloads are (in order): Nokia 6300, Nokia N70, Nokia 3110c, Nokia N73, Nokia 5130 XpressMusic, Nokia 5800d, Nokia 7210, Nokia 6600, Nokia 2600c, Nokia E63
• The top 10 handsets ranked by page-views-per-user are (in order): Sony Ericsson W900i, Nokia E63, Sanyo SCP-2700, Sony Ericsson K800, Sony Ericsson W302, Samsung SPH-M810, LG LX265, Sony Ericsson W508, Nokia 3500, Nokia E71

“These numbers are more than just bragging rights; they are proof that the joint efforts of our industry matter,” said Jon von Tetzchner, Co-founder, Opera Software. “We can clearly see that making the Web available to everyone, no matter where they are or how they choose to access it, makes a difference.”

Source: www.opera.com