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Opera Finally Realizes That Nobody Pays For Browsers

Surprises

from the oh,-look-at-that... dept

Tue, Sep 20th 2005 7:39am — Mike Masnick
It only took a few years, but Opera has finally realized that people really won't ever pay for a browser when all of the competition is free. They've done away with the license fee and taken the ads out of the free version they did offer, in the hopes of actually getting some users. This seems like a more effective marketing strategy than silly publicity stunts involving your CEO pretending to swim across the ocean.
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14 Comments

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  1. identicon
    Tony, 20 Sep 2005 @ 8:12am

    So, what's the new biz plan?

    I wonder how they plan to collect revenue now. Perhaps their embedded sales have been taking off...

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    lbm, 20 Sep 2005 @ 8:46am

    Re: So, what's the new biz plan?

    1. Give browser away for free
    2. ???
    3. Profit!!!

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    David, 20 Sep 2005 @ 9:01am

    Re: So, what's the new biz plan?

    Perhaps they have gone to a volunteer system?

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    michael Vilain, 20 Sep 2005 @ 9:02am

    Now if only the idiots at iCab...

    would get a clue...

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Wes, 20 Sep 2005 @ 9:02am

    Opera's New Business Plan

    They now offer "Premium Support" for $29 for one year. They are still charging $29 for the mobile versions and they are charging for their mobile accelerator which is a subscription service.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2005 @ 9:03am

    People don't pay for browsers but Companies do

    All the companies I have worked for in the past 10 years have paid for browsers. Netscape required a fee once upon a time, and companies paid that fee so they could have someone to badger if things went pear-shaped. Everyone pays for IE because, lawsuit remedies to the contrary notwithstanding, its the friggin operating system and that operating system ain't free. The right to cripple Netscape Navigator for use as the only ad-belching browser supported by your Nazi ISP was sold to AOL, NetZero and others: this funded Gecko development which produced Navigator and Mozilla. I'm convinced there are companies that purchased Opera licenses for use with work they do on the Internet, especially for high-stake situations where they needed to get ahold of someone to fix a problem right away. For example, trading stocks over the Internet-- you need every link in the chain to work or you might lose thousands of dollars. From experience I know you can't call Microsoft about IE and expect to get any meaningful help, so you buy a browser. Here's a suggestion, Techdirt: try to understand the corporate philosophy so you can attract those customers, even if they appear to be colossal morons.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Jimmy, 20 Sep 2005 @ 9:04am

    yay!

    This used to be a great browser that you could fit on a floppy, and I think they even advertised that. I am glad it is finally free...

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Opera, 20 Sep 2005 @ 10:12am

    You ask...

    How will we make money? One word: Volume.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2005 @ 11:34am

    Re: You ask...

    Three words actually:

    volume Volume VOLUME!

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Jim Casey, 20 Sep 2005 @ 12:55pm

    Opera

    I downloaded and installed the free Opera Browser and deleted it 30 min. later. They should pay people to use it. I've been using Firefox since it came out and no other browser can touch it!

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Bridges, 20 Sep 2005 @ 1:36pm

    Re: Opera

    I second that emotion!! :>)

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2005 @ 1:43pm

    No Subject Given

    I got a free license for their tenth anniversary. Since then I've used both opera and firefox. Opera is defiantly faster and smoother; but it lacks the Flash media removal plugin. So I use firefox much more then opera.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    DigitalBomb, 20 Sep 2005 @ 2:17pm

    Browsers

    Companies would definetly pay for a browser. However, Opera was not marketed for companies, as you could see. Sure, some companies may have purchased Opera, but the website did not specifically target them. First rule of selling a product or service: Target an audiance.

    I use Mozilla Firefox for graphical purposes, but otherwise, I use the Unix browser: Lynx. It is text-based, and is the original Unix Web browser. Ironicly, it beats the pants off of Opera and IE. Then again, it does not take much to beat IE...

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Darren Hom, 12 Apr 2006 @ 8:57pm

    Opera revenue

    Opera makes some money from affiliate marketing, since the browser has very convenient ways to access Google, Amazon, Ebay, and some other sites. They also have other sources of revenue; there's a complete summary here:

    http://opera.com/company/investors/faq/#faq3

    [ link to this | view in thread ]


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