Full Speed Ahead

Opera hits new all-time high download record

Oslo, Norway – August 5, 2003

Opera Software announced today that interest in the company’s browser is only increasing. So far this year over 10 million versions of Opera have been downloaded from www.opera.com. This new record is in addition to the many millions more copies of Opera that are downloaded from other download sites around the world.

Opera is experiencing strong growth in all regions, with most users concentrated in Europe, the United States and Japan.

“It is wonderful seeing that more and more users around the world are tempted to try Opera’s Internet experience, and especially pleasing to see that so many American users are discovering that there are alternatives to Microsoft’s old browser technology,” says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software ASA. “10 million is a good, strong number so far in 2003, but we expect much more by the end of the year. The second half of 2003 is promising to be a very exciting time for Opera Software.”

Press reports indicate that Microsoft will not further develop Internet Explorer, instead integrating it fully into their new upcoming ‘Longhorn’ operating system to be released in a few years. Press reports also suggests that development of Netscape has been largely abandoned. Opera therefore foresees continued strong and increasing demand for its desktop browsers.