To Russia with love

With millions of Russian supporters, Opera Software makes a home for itself in St. Petersburg

Oslo, Norway – April 14, 2010

Opera Software today officiallyestablished its new office in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in an effort toexpand its presence in the Russian market. This office will mainly beresponsible for Opera’s activities in Russia and provide more support forlocal Opera users as well as for Web developers, partners and customers.

The Russian community of Opera users is the largest in the world, asimmense support for Opera has traditionally stemmed from that region. TheOpera desktop browser is the browser leader in Russia, with more than 31.7percent of the Russian market share (StatCounter, March 2010). Opera”smobile browsers, Opera Mini and Opera Mobile, approximate account for 82percent of the Russian mobile Web-surfing market. Opera currently partnerswith several leading Russian telecoms and service providers, includingMTS, Mail.Ru, MegaFon, OZON.ru and Yandex.

“Russia is a priority region for Opera, and we have already garneredincredible support and recognition of the Opera browser in this country.By immersing ourselves in the Russian community with a local presence, weare able to better respond to the needs of our Russian consumers,” saidLars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “With this new office in St.Petersburg, we are proving our dedication to our Russian users and lettingthem know that we’re not going anywhere. I hope that through this effort,we reach a better understanding of what Russian users, Web developers andpartners want and need from Opera.”

Prior to the establishment of its Saint Petersburg office, Opera waspresent in Russia at major industry events such as forums, conferences andbarcamps. In addition, Opera organized regular University tours, educatingstudents, teachers and developers on the benefits of open Web standards.Opera’s new Russian office will allow the company to expand their localactivities and be closer to its users.

Opera’s Saint Petersburg office is located on Primorsky prospect, 54/A/1,Saint Petersburg, Russia.