Opera press releases

The one million download challenge of Opera 8: Opera's CEO will swim from Norway to the USA

Oslo, Norway - April 21, 2005

An overly excited Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software, today proclaimed at an internal company meeting that if the download numbers of the new Opera 8 Web browser reach 1 million within the first four days of the launch, he will swim from Norway to the USA with only one stop-over for a cup of hot chocolate at his mother's house in his home country, Iceland. Opera's communications department could obviously not resist to make such a bold and inarguably over-confident statement public.

Opera's new Web browser, Opera 8, was released Tuesday, and the massive response had Opera's download servers kneeling an hour after the launch. Still, the download numbers of Opera 8 reached 600 000 in the first 48 hours.

"A lot of people had great difficulties downloading Opera 8 on Tuesday because the traffic on the servers was simply too high," says Carsten Fischer, VP Desktop, Opera Software. "When download numbers reached 120 per second one hour after the release, our servers had serious problems dealing with all the requests. We had prepared for heavy traffic, but this exceeded our wildest dreams."

Opera has now installed additional servers with increased capacity, and it was the download counter showing 600 000 downloads in 48 hours that sparked Mr Tetzschner's enthusiasm and thus his courageous promise to boldly swim where no man has swum before.

"I am not sure he realizes how cold the Norwegian Sea is in April," says Anne Stavnes, Human Resource Manager, Opera Software. "However, having seen Jon in his red beach attire before, I am not sure if swimming to the USA is scarier than exposing people to this sight."

Opera 8 is launched under the campaign heading "Speed, Security, Simplicity" to firmly position Opera as the fast, secure and easy-to-use browser. However, Opera's communications department clearly sees the potential for two parallel campaigns with their CEO's daring act of oceanic bravery:

• Opera 8: Speed, Security, Simplicity
• Opera's CEO: Speedos, Shrinkage, Spoke-too-soon-icity

Speculations are running high at Opera Software, and it is expected that making von Tetzchner's promise public will make it impossible for the courageous CEO to back out. The challenge will end on Saturday at 0900 a.m. CET, but as we are now moving into the weekend the download figures will be revealed on Monday at www.opera.com.

About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA has redefined Web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera's cross-platform Web browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com.

PR Contacts

Norway:
Tor Odland
Communications Director
Tel: +47 2416 4242
Email: toro[at]opera.com

United States:
Michelle Valdivia Lien
Communications Manager
Tel: +1 786 208 6072
Email: michelle[at]opera.com

Japan:
Kaori Kotobuki
Communications Manager
Tel: +81 3 57 68 82 24
Email: kaorik[at]opera.com

Contact us at press08@opera.com