In what will probably turnout to be the most important story of the day or perhaps even the month. Opera Software ASA on Tuesday announced that it has "permanently removed" the banner ad and licensing fee for its Web browser.
Opera Software said in a statement: "However, revenue in the long term is expected to increase as the ad-free browser is expected to significantly expand Opera's market share and the contract with Google provides more search revenue per user".
This announcement has the potential to shake the browser market at the foundation by making it now a three-way war. Mozilla Firefox has already started making gains on Internet Explorer by increasing its share in the browser market and now Opera would have a chance at it too.
"Today we invite the entire Internet community to use Opera and experience Web browsing as it should be," said Jon S. von Tetzchner, Opera's chief executive. "Removing the ad banner and licensing fee will encourage many new users to discover the speed, security and unmatched usability of the Opera browser."
Opera, The multiplatform Web browser, is available for free download from the Web site.
The Opera browser features pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searche capability, RSS newsfeed integration, IRC chat support and other features. Up until now, however, users have been required to either pay a registration fee or deal with built-in ad banner displays. In late August, the company reportedly gave the browser away for free for on it's 10th anniversary.
Opera browser by estimate holds around a 2-3 percent market share and this will probably increase now that they have a free version. Free of ads that is... considering it has been free for a long time now. The new twist is that users no longer have to pay to get the ads removed and they can get official support by paying a fee, which costs $35 per year. Of course, Mozilla Firefox also requires payment for support.
Because of Opera's small size, several mobile-device companies have found it to be an ideal browser for their PDAs and mobile phones. Opera anticipates that Opera will establish an even firmer foothold in those areas in the future.
In fact, the company now expects to triple its user base, which currently stands at an around 20 million users. There is a large base of users out there who disliked the ads in the browser and hence moved on to Mozilla Firefox and other assorted browsers. Those users would be the first ones to move back as per company's expectations.
-- Compiled from wire reports
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