Opera has recently launched Opera Mini 7 for Android. The latest version of the mobile Web browser has been released for devices running Android 1.5 and above. The new browser brings along several new features, which according to the company, will improve the browser's penetration in India. EFYTimes spoke to Mrunmaiy Abroal, communications manager, Opera Software about the new browser and its usability in the Indian market. Excepts:
What is Opera Mini 7 for Android all about? What are the new features incorporated in it?
I will give you a brief of what Opera is for all mobile devices- Opera makes two kinds of mobile browsers- one is Opera Mini and the other one is Opera Mobile. Opera Mini is a browser which works on the cloud. So all the data that comes to a phone through Opera Mini actually passes through Opera servers. Opera servers compress the pages and then send the data to your devices. It's almost around 90 per cent compression that takes place. It means less data comes to your phone, which means less cost for the end user. So Opera Mini actually saves cost for the users. If a user has downloaded 100 KB data, only 10 KB is actually coming to your phone. It also uses less RAM on your phone. So even if you have a basic phone, which is not very high-end, you can have a good Web browsing experience with Opera Mini on it. Recently we came out with version 7 of Opera Mini.
One feature which Opera Mini has is 'speed dial', which is a very trademark feature that our browsers have. We have speed dial on our desktop browsers as well. Speed dials work some what like this- whenever you open the browser, the home page has speed dial buttons which you can configure. So you can access a site of your choice just with a touch, directly from the homepage of the browser. Usually there are around nine speed dials but with this version of Opera Mini, you can set as many speed dials as you wish to. Apart from it, the regular features like remembering your password and syncing between the desktop browser and the mobile browser are also available. 
Opera Mini 7 has arrived for Android. Is it available across platforms?
Yes. Infact, we are the only mobile browser that is available across platforms, be it Symbian, Android, or iOS.
How do you see Opera Mini 7 being accepted in the Indian market, where both social networking and Android are hot?
Opera Mini is already a market leader in India. The data from StatCounter about mobile browser market in India reveals that Opera Mini is the most used mobile browser in India. When you talk about Android and social networking, Opera Mini has a very specific feature where you can share data on social network. So if I am reading an article on EFYTimes.com and I like it, I can share it on Facebook, Twitter or any other social networking options. I just have to go to the share button and share it on any platform of my choice. So, you can easily share information with one touch. Talking about Android, this open source platform is growing leaps and bounds in India. So we see it as a great growth opportunity in India. We are sure that this is the platform where we want to increase our presence.
Will it be correct to say that Opera is banking big on Android for its market share in India?
Absolutely. Android is a very promising platform and it will work great specially in India. The reason why we think Opera Mini for Android will grow in India is because our network feeds are not as high as compared to other nations. Even if we talk of the 3G network, there are challenges that a normal user faces in terms of speed and connectivity. That's where Opera Mini has an advantage because compresses data and your browsing becomes faster and is no longer dependent on network feeds for speed. In countries like India, Africa or Bangladesh, where network is clearly an issue, we have seen that Opera Mini performs really well because of this quality of the browser. Apart from this, the increasing number of mobile devices in India is another reason why we see Opera Mini will surely grow in the country.
What initiatives will you take to increase the penetration of your browser in the country?
We have joined hands with Indian handset manufacturers like Micromax, Lava, Maxx mobiles, Lemon Mobiles, who provide Opera Mini pre-installed in their devices. Low cost devices surely have a good penetration among masses. So, I think this is a strong move from our end and we are working strategically in this direction.
Is Opera competing with browsers like Firefox and Chrome in desktop space or is it concentrating on the mobile space for future?
Our aim is to have a browser on every platform that has access to the Internet. So definitely we are not avoiding the desktop space. But strategically we are not into marketing for our products big time. So, that is why you don't see much of Opera advertising. On the desktop front, the Opera browser has a feature called Opera Turbo, which compresses the data. Any other browser does not have this feature.
How do you see the Android space evolving in India?
India is still very much dominated with Java and basic Symbian phones led by Nokia. The local manufacturers, who are entering the market are launching the basic Java phones, but because a lot of OEMs are showing interest in launching Android handsets at a cheaper cost, this will definitely increase the popularity of Android platform in India. More than that, Indians are very technology savvy and they are keen to adopt new technologies. This is where Android has a fair chance to gain. It is positively the most promising OS in the market right now. People will adopt the Android platform as it is available at an affordable price point.
There are other browsers for Android apart from Opera Mini 7. Where do you see your browser in the competition?
It is like in any other space. Android definitely has a lot many options to offer. The challenge is to offer the best technology to keep up to the expectations of the consumers and keep innovating. We, at Opera, try to do just that and probably that's the reason why we have good penetration in the Android market.
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