Opera CEO Praises the Virtues of Google Chrome

Image Credit: Opera
Considering that Chrome managed to take the “most popular niche browser” crown from Opera on the very first day of its release, you would think there would be some bad blood between the browser’s bosses. Not so, according to Opera founder Jon von Tetzchner. In an interview with CNET’s Rafe Needleman, von Tetzchner explains how Chrome and other unlikely products have actually benefited Opera.
Of Chrome, von Tetzchner says that although the browser is a competitor, its (relatively) high profile launch drew a lot of attention to the fact that there are alternatives to the big three browsers. As a result, Opera’s daily downloads have gone up 20% since the launch of Chrome.
Most of Opera’s revenue comes from its popular Mini variant for mobile phones. Even here, von Tetzchner says that the high-profile iPhone, which does not use Opera, is actually helping the browser by (again) bringing mobile browsing into the public eye, causing more people to try out the internet functionality of their Opera-equipped mobile phones.
So what’s your take? Is Opera in denial? Tell us after the jump.
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ex-mac-guy
October 31, 2008 at 10:11am
While I'm mostly a Firefox guy but I have Safari, Chrome and Opera installed. I have to say, Opera has the smallest memory footprint and it operates very quickly but I dislike some of Opera's interface...I wish they would make it more like Firefox (for example, holding down control while clicking on a link should open up the link in a new background tab and when you're viewing a page that is zoomed down, when you click open a link in a new window/tab, it should be 100%, not zoomed down...this should be at least a on/off option)
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jml4970
October 30, 2008 at 11:50am
Opera rocks, anyone who hasn't used it recently should give it a try. Speed dial, easy tab management, and mouse gestures are all awesome.
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3rdegreeBurn
October 29, 2008 at 6:16pm
Stop hating on Opera. Whatever google does what change the fact that opear is the Mac of the browser world. The Opera Pres know that if Chrome take the market share away from IE then web designers will be force to code for web standards instead of the crap they have been coding. The is good for opera because it now means that opera browser will now work better with more webpages because of standards coding. Therefore the people who do try and use it will not be turned of because they can load an IE only crap page.
It's like Starbucks opening the door for mom and pop coffee shops to sell coffee. Starbucks hooked millions of people on coffee and is now closing stores. Other coffee shops including Dunkin Donuts fill in the gap. Once a coffee addict err customer tries this alternative coffee. They may find that they like the alternative better.
We should argue about which it better we should be happy that a company is finally applying it's self to standards and the open source ideals of the people. Viva la webkit, gecko, and presto.
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StarWolf
October 29, 2008 at 4:54pm
Ah Contrare mona me. Okay bad on the grammer :P. Anyway I find that Opera has way more features than IE ever could dream! Opera Mobile ATM is the only way to go. Can anyone mentioned slim-lined and zoom functionality? Maybe when WinMo 7 comes along than it might have a good chance.
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ProtoJMB
October 29, 2008 at 3:10pm
While I do have Opera for Windows Mobile, I don't really use it. It came pre-loaded on my Moto Q Global, but I find myself using IE mobile more. I only use Opera when I need multiple windows, that's the only thing I wish IE had. I just like the overall way that IE functions though, which is why I use it more.















