Localized Opera Desktop and Opera Mini now available in the country with the world’s most Internet and mobile phone users
Beijing, China – 16 December, 2008
Opera Software today released the first localized version of its flagship Opera desktop browser in China, while introducing its world-leading mobile browser, Opera Mini, to local consumers. Echoing the launching of the two much-anticipated products, a greatly improved Web site, the Opera China Online Community, is also open free to local people.
You can download the Opera Desktop China Edition and Opera Mini Chinese version for free and take a look at what is new in Opera at the re-designed Opera China Online Community at www.operachina.com.
“China has the most Internet users and mobile phone users in the world. As the world’s leading cross-device, Internet browser developer, we would like to provide them with best Internet browsing experience”, says Jon S. von Tetzchner, Opera CEO. “Through introducing two of our world class products simultaneously in China, we are making it even easier for Chinese consumers to enjoy online living. And this is only a beginning.”
A browser tailored for China
Opera Desktop China Edition is based on the latest desktop version, Opera 9.63. And it is Opera’s first, customized version tailored to meet the need of users in a regional market. Having carefully studied the requirements of Chinese users, Opera has optimized the browsing experience for Chinese networks, improved compatibility with Chinese Web sites, enhanced integration with popular third-party applications, such as Thunder Downloader, in China, and added many Chinese elements in appearance.
“Opera Desktop China Edition is not simply a customized version drafted by Opera Chinese team alone. This is an enhanced version aiming to meet Chinese users’ requirements, and it is a result of joint efforts involving Opera engineers globally,” says Song Lin, General Manager of the Opera Beijing office. “We have collected lots of feedback and advice from local consumers and studied their browsing habits, as well as the behaviors of local Web sites. Working closely together with engineers back in Oslo, we made adjustments and improvements to the Opera browser, to meet local requirements, so as to provide Chinese consumers with best browsing experience.”
“The release of the Opera Desktop China Edition is not a mere local release; but it is actually part of Opera global release system. As a matter of fact, a lot of improvements achieved in this release will be included in the Opera international version as well. In future, Opera China Edition will release updates as Opera international version does,” adds Song.
New servers, powerful Opera Mini
Opera Mini is the world’s most popular mobile Web browser, with over 21 million monthly unique users. Users of Opera Mini will benefit from a desktop-like browsing experience that displays Web pages as they are meant to be seen. In addition, Opera Mini utilizes Opera’s compression technology to compress Web pages by up to 90 percent before sending them to phones, resulting in faster page downloads without compromising end-user experience. As a result, download costs are kept to a minimum.
Chinese mobile phone users can now enjoy the same experience as does the rest of world. Indeed they can now achieve even faster browsing speeds thanks to the newly established Opera Mini server in China.
And, thanks to a powerful feature called Opera Link, users can easily synchronize their personal browser information such as bookmarks, Speed Dial, personal bar, notes, typed browser history and custom searches between Opera Desktop and Opera Mini.
A strengthened community
On the same day, Opera has also launched its re-designed Opera China Online Community.
Fully restructured and under a clean homepage, the new Opera China Online Community site provides downloading resources for the latest products, Opera news at a glance and a platform for online discussion and interaction with Opera team members.
In addition, aiming to help promote Web-standards adoption in China, the online community also provides Chinese curriculum on Web standards and Web site design.