Norwegian firm Opera Softwar is launching a joint venture with Chinese group Telling Telecom it hopes will double the amount of users of its mobile web browsers by 2014. Chief executive Lars Boilesen on March 10 told Reuters in a telephone interview from China that by 2014 Opera hoped to gain more than 100 million users a month in China with its specialised browser - doubling its current total number of global users.
Opera, which produces the world's most popular mobile browsers, said it would own up to 40 percent in the venture through an investment over three years. Its browser will abide by Chinese rules that censor some Internet sites, Opera said.
"China represents the largest mobile web opportunity on the planet," Boilesen said in an emailed statement to Reuters. The deal guarantees Opera a minimum amount of revenue from the joint venture corresponding to its investment.
Opera did not say how much it would invest in the venture, whose capital will be 135 million renminbi ($20.54 million).
Opera makes the world's most used mobile browsers ahead of those from Apple, Nokia and Google Inc.'s Android, controlling 21.2 percent of the market in February, according to Web analytics firm StatCounter. The iPhone, Nokia and Android browsers each have 15 to 18 percent market shares.
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