2015 is a big year both for us and for you who use Opera on your computers and mobile devices. In September, we rebranded Opera. Also this year we added more data-savings features, further cementing our spot as the leader in compression technology. It is important to us that we serve you products and apps that meet your needs, like data savings for streaming video and music.

Here are our 2015 highlights.

Video data savings on mobile

For a decade now, our mobile browsers have been saving you data. Data -savings means you can get twice or more the web experience on your phone for the same amount of mobile data.

Over the years, the way you use your phone has changed and adapted to what technology has to offer. You’ve been watching more and more videos using your mobile data. So, we weren’t content with just saving text and image data. It was high time to also compress video data.

This year, we added video data savings in Opera for Android, Opera Mini for iOS and Opera Coast.

Data savings for streaming music and video

Streaming music or radio requires bandwidth and costs data. If you stream music for nine hours, you’ll use up about 1 GB. It can be very expensive for your data plan if you stream on a mobile network.

To address this problem, we just last month rolled out a new version of our Android app Opera Max. It is the first app in the world that compresses streaming music and video.

Opera Max, a free data-savings and data-management app, is a very strong addition to our lineup of mobile browsers. It works in the background, saving you data on most Android apps.

Sync browsing data

For most of you who use multiple devices, syncing browsing data is very important. Browsing data includes bookmarks and browsing history.

This year, we made syncing available across our browsers — Opera for computers, Opera Mini and Opera for Android.

The new Opera brand identity

From our beginnings 20 years ago as just a browser company, we’ve evolved a lot. New teams have joined us this year, like SurfEasy and Bemobi (Apps Club). We’ve launched new apps. We serve over a billion internet users every month, including the 350 million people using our apps to access the internet and the 1.1 billion people we reach through Opera Mediaworks.

In September, we introduced the new Opera brand identity.

Raising awareness of ocean pollution online: Kontiki2

It’s a daring mission, but one that our Chief Technology Officer and Father of CSS Håkon Wium Lie could not say no to.

Kontiki2 is inspired by Thor Heyerdahl’s expedition across the Pacific Ocean on a raft. This year, Håkon, along with other volunteers and scientists, is mapping out the Great Pacific garbage patch.

Research vessels rarely sail this part of the Pacific, and just before the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference wrapped up this month, Kontiki2 chief scientist Dr. Cecilie Mauritzen sent a letter online in behalf of the ocean.

You can get Kon-Tiki2 updates online:
– Read through the craft’s scientific findings at Kon-Tiki2 Science.
– Follow Opera’s CTO, Håkon Wium Lie, on his Twitter account: @wiumlie.
– Watch Karen M’s personal YouTube channel, as she documents the adventure.

Millions access free ebooks via Opera Mini

Worldreader has thousands of free ebooks. When we partnered with them, we were able to bring this digital library to millions of readers. Within six months, 5 million readers in Africa had read books using Opera Mini.

“When I read about astronomy, it changed the way I see the world.” — https://t.co/Wi8kX8Pxqz #OperaMini pic.twitter.com/y8KLkQEbfY

— Opera (@opera) November 2, 2015

And, the number of readers keep growing.

That definitely puts a smile on our faces. 🙂 It’s been a great 2015!

2015androidcompression technologydata savingsioskontiki2operaOpera Coastopera for androidOpera for computersworldreaderyear in review

---