A handy currency converter is available directly in the Opera desktop browser – out today. With this launch, Opera is the first major browser to add a built-in currency converter, making it easy for the growing number of online shoppers to see what items cost in the currency of their choice.
Cross-border shopping is increasing
Cross-border e-commerce is booming all around the world, and is forecast to reach 1 trillion USD in 2020. In four years, almost half of online shoppers worldwide will buy products in online shops that are not located in their own country, according to the same research. With these trend, the use of online calculators has become one of the most common needs – and greatest sources of frustration – for the online shoppers, when trying to understand what a item cost in their own currency.
How to use the inbuilt currency converter
To use the currency converter, simply hover your mouse over the price you want to convert, and a small box will automatically pop up showing the price in your local currency.
You can also change your output currency in the browser settings. The new Opera browser supports conversion from 32 currencies based on daily values from the European Central Bank.
2016, a new dawn for the browser wars?
The introduction of a built-in currency converter joins a long list of new features released by Opera this year.
“We came together in start of the year to look at what people need to do online,” says Krystian Kolondra, Head of Opera browser. ”We quickly realized browsers were not paying proper attention to the needs of users. People wanted faster browsing with no ads. They wanted a free VPN service and they wanted their browser to help them browse their favorite websites in a smarter way.”
A long list of Opera’s improvements in 2016 include: native ad blocker, battery saver mode, video pop out, personal newsreader, built-in VPN, faster start-up, and now the built-in currency converter.
“The browser war is back,” Kolondra adds. “We have brought it back this year by presenting a completely new way of desktop browsing, with extra focus on speed, privacy, and smarter battery use. It’s interesting to see others following this track and responding with similar solutions.”
Learn more about this version – and other improvements such as revamped personal news – in our developer blog post.