Opera Mini usage on phones surges in emerging markets

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Some 66.5 million people are now using the Opera Mini web browser, many of them in emerging markets and the developing world, according to a new report from the software's Norwegian developers.

The Opera Mini mobile phone browser uses server-side compression to speed up web page rendering and download times. It's therefore no surprise to see that the company's State of the Mobile Web report claims the browser is most popular in emerging markets and developing countries where mobile data networks may be comparatively slow and expensive compared to those in developed countries. This gives users on those networks extra incentive to speed up web page rendering.

The report also highlights the extremely rapid growth of Opera Mini usage in Qatar and Iraq – 1,735.4 per cent and 1,931.8 per cent respectively. Opera Mini users in most of the Middle East also strongly prefer Nokia phones, although this trend is reversed in Israel where the iPhone is more popular.

According to the report, the top 20 countries with the highest rates of Opera Mini usage are:

Indonesia

Russia

India

China

Ukraine

South Africa

The US

Vietnam

The UK

Kenya

Kazakhstan

Poland

Nigeria

Malaysia

Belarus

The Philippines

Egypt

Germany

Brazil

Bangladesh

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