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Opera eyes Indonesia's growing Internet market
For non-gadget geeks and older people, mentioning the word âoperaâ might evoke the Sydney Opera House
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For non-gadget geeks and older people, mentioning the word 'opera' might evoke the Sydney Opera House.
For Dinda Nabila, a 16-year-old high school student in South Tangerang, Banten, Opera is the browser that she has been using on her mobile phone for the last two years.
The browser, Opera Mini, is very popular in Indonesia.
'It's easier to download images using Opera Mini,' Dinda said.
What is not as well known is that Opera also has browsers for desktop computers 'and televisions.
The Scandinavian firm behind the software offers Opera mini for phones; the Opera browser for Windows, Apple desktops and laptops; Opera TV, a browser for the Sony Bravia televisions made by Sony.
This means those with Sony Bravia sets can use Opera TV browser to arrange their favorite programs in one tab and children's program in another ' just like tabs on a regular computer browser.
Last month, Opera launched its Opera Coast browser for the iPhone and iPad, offering a different interface and tidy full-screen surfing experience.
Coast requires only a thumb to operate: Button usage is minimized with intuitive gesture controls. It also offers easier syncing. Favorite sites can be seen on desktop or iPhone through an automatic iCloud sync of site tiles in Opera Coast.
After its success in developing Opera mini, which was introduced in 2005, the company is focusing on developing desktop browsers.
'Keyboards will be still used 25 years from now. It's more comfortable for working, browsing and multitasking,' Krystian Kolondra, Opera Software's senior vice president of products, told invited journalists and bloggers from Indonesia at his office at Wroclaw, Poland.
Like Opera mini, the full Opera browser has better image compression, saving time due to faster page loading, Kolondra said.
Kolondra, who led the team that developed Opera desktop for Windows and Mac last year, said that the browser would be a good match with the emerging Indonesian market, where Internet bandwidth is still limited.
'With the Internet capacity still slow, using Opera will make browsing faster, as the data would go to our server first and then go to your computers,' he said.
Kolondra, who has a master's degree in computer science from the Wroclaw University, said that user security was a main concern of designers, as the browser would remind users if data or images to be downloaded might harm their computers.
The number of people in Indonesia using Opera browsers has reached about 16 million, versus total global numbers of 350 million last year.
Kolondra, who previously held managerial positions for Siemens and BenQ, said that more women than men used Opera, including in Indonesia. 'More women use browsers for shopping 'online shopping.'
Meanwhile, Zhenis Beisekov, product manager of desktop products for Opera said the browser was developed to reflect user interests.
'Users who want to make comparisons of certain products before buying could collect them first in a basket called a 'stash' and may look at the basket again whenever they open the browser,' Beisekov, who has a master's degree in computer science from Wroclaw University, said.
Beisekov said the browser's discovery feature provided popular topics based on a country's popular news. 'So the users could read what news in sports is currently popular or most read in Indonesia.'
He said the Opera engine provided not just article titles, but also the images or photos similar to the formats presented by news outlets.
Beisekov, who joined Opera in 2008, added that the design of the Opera browser is more beautiful and more personal, as users could adjust the browser based on their personal interests.
Unlike other browsers, Opera presents tabs in cubic forms. A new tab would be presented in square with photos, not just a title or website address.
'The design is more beautiful and personalized and simple. Simplicity is the philosophy of our design,' the native Russian speaker, born in Kazakhstan, and an admirer of Russian literature said.
Opera Coast is available for free download from Apple's and Google's online app stores.
