New Opera mobile report: Russia, Ukraine and CIS countries

The world's most active mobile Internet audience selects local web resources.
New mobile report Opera presents data about Russia, Ukraine and CIS countries

Oslo, Norway - March 25, 2009
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Only facts

• The number of Opera Mini users in the world exceeded 20.5 million, showing an increase of more than 160% compared with February 2008. Last month, the number of pages viewed amounted to more than 7.3 billion - 290% more than in the same period last year. Opera Mini's servers processed more than 1.2 Petabytes of data in February, generating more than 124 million Megabytes of mobile traffic worldwide. Compared to February 2008, the volume of data increased by 338%. A more detailed report is available at www.opera.com (in English).
• Yandex and Vkontakte replaced Google and Facebook, becoming, respectively, the most popular search service and social network in Russia and the CIS countries.
• Nokia phones are the most popular among Opera Mini users in the CIS, with the exception of Armenia, where the leader is the Sony Ericsson brand.

The main results of the report

• Russia and Ukraine lead in the number of Opera Mini users every month, while a large number of Opera Mini users are also represented in other CIS countries, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan.
• Web browsing statistics clearly show how many people Opera Mini actually uses after downloading. Uzbekistan showed the best results in the region with an increase of 2600% over the past year, and Moldova ranked second with a 900% increase over the same period.
• Other countries over the past year also showed an impressive increase in the number of pages viewed, despite the already existing large percentage of Opera Mini users. For Russia, this figure was 270%, while in Ukraine the growth in the number of pages viewed exceeded 400%.
• Web services aimed at the Russian-speaking audience of the CIS countries, still remain popular. Yandex is the main search engine in most countries of the region, yielding Google only in Kyrgyzstan. Vkontakte remains the most popular social network, although in many countries it is inferior to its constant rival, Odnoklassniki. Georgia is the only country where Vkontakte does not make it to the top ten popular websites.

Data for Russia

• The growth in the number of pages viewed from February 2008: 269.5%
• Vkontakte continues to lead, while Mail.ru and Yandex are fighting stubbornly for second place.
• After several months of decline, Wapos.ru moved up one place, displacing Wikipedia.

Top sites in Russia ( by number of users )
vkontakte.ru
mail.ru
yandex.ru
odnoklassniki.ru
rambler.ru
google.com
my.opera.com
wapos.ru
wikipedia.org
seclub.org

Popular phone models in February 2009
Nokia 6300
Nokia N73
Nokia 6233
Nokia N70
Nokia 5310
Nokia 3110c
Nokia 6120c
Sony Ericsson K750i
Nokia N72
Nokia 6500s

Our opinion

“In regions such as Russia and the CIS countries, Opera Mini helps solve real problems related to the quality and cost of the mobile Internet, helping millions of users get fast and inexpensive access to the World Wide Web,” said Jon von Tachner, executive director of Opera Software. “We set a goal to help the next billion people get access to the Internet, and Opera Mini users are involved in this process, showing other people an example of how to fully work on the network from mobile devices. Such massive support is the key to affordable Internet access for everyone, no matter where they live or how they have access to the worldwide network. ”

About Opera Software ASA

The company Opera Software ASA has opened up new possibilities for viewing web pages on PCs, mobile phones and other Internet devices. The cross-platform browser technology developed by Opera is known for its functionality, standards compliance and small size, while providing users with faster, safer, and more dynamic access to the Internet. The main office of Opera Software is located in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the exchange code OPERA. More information is available at www.opera.com .